THE  RECENT 
REVOLUTIOI 
|  IN    ORGAN 
BUILDING 


GEORGE  L,  MILLER 


OAKC     rfl)SF 


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The 

Recent  Revolution 
in  Organ  Building 

Being  an  Account  of 
Modern  Developments 

By          . 

GEORGE  LAING  MILLER 

Fellow  of  the  Royal  College  of  Organists, 
Eng. ;  First  Mus.  Bac., Dunelra. ;  Organist 
of  Christ  Church,  Pelham  Manor,  N.  Y. ; 
late  of  All  Angels',  New  York;  St.  Clem- 
ent's, Philadelphia,  and  Wallasey  Parish 
Church,  England 


SECOND  EDITION 


NEW  YORK 

THE  CHARLES  FRANCIS  PRESS 
1913 

Price  One  Dollar;  in  Great  Britain  Five  Shillings 


Copyright,  1909,  1913,  by 
GEORGE  L.  MILLER 

Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall,  London 


1  8  6.  £ 
\\-bllrl 


FOREWORD 

SOME  years  ago  the  elders  and  deacons  of  a  Scotch  church  were 
assembled  in  solemn  conclave  to  discuss  the  prospective  installa- 
tion of  a  pipe  organ.  The  table  was  piled  high  with  plans  and 
specifications  and  discussion  ran  rife  as  to  whether  they  should 
have  a  two-manual  or  a  three-manual  instrument — a  Great  and 
Swell  or  a  Great,  Swell,  and  Choir  organ.  At  last  Deacon 
MacNab,  the  church  treasurer  and  a  personage  of  importance, 
got  a  chance  to  speak. 

"Mr.  Chairman,"  said  he,  "I  don't  see  why  we  should  have  a 
Great,  a  Swell,  and  a  Choir  organ.  I  think  that  one  organ  is 
quite  enough." 

Now,  Deacon  MacNab  was  a  master  tailor,  and  a  good  one  at 
that;  so  the  musical  man  who  was  pushing  the  thing  through 
appealed  to  his  professional  instincts  in  explaining  the  situation 
by  saying: 

"Surely,  Mr.  MacNab,  you  would  not  say  that  a  man  was 
properly  dressed  with  only  a  coat  on !  You  would  expect  him  to 
have  on  a  coat,  waistcoat  and  trousers !"  And  the  day  was  won 
for  the  three-manual  organ. 

Of  course  there  had  been  no  organ  in  this  church  before,  or 

the  worthy  deacon  might  have  known  more  about  it.   If  he  had 

!   read  the  second  chapter  of  this  book,  he  would  have  known  all 

|   about  it.    The  following  pages  have  been  written  with  the  idea 

J   of  helping  those  who  may  be  placed  in  a  similar  position;  who 

may  be  called  upon  to  decide  the  serious  question  of  the  purchase 

i    of  a  new  organ  for  their  church,  town  hall,  or  an  auditorium, 

XN    or  the  rebuilding  of  the  old  one  now  in  use;  who  are  distracted 

by  the  conflicting  plans  and  contending  claims  of  rival  organ 

builders;  who  are  disinclined  to  rely  upon  so-called  "expert" 


270931 


G  Foreword 

opinion,  but  wish  to  look  into  these  things  for  themselves  and 
intelligently  purchase  an  instrument  which  is  thoroughly  up-to- 
date  in  every  particular,  which  will  not  drive  the  organist  to  the 
verge  of  profanity  every  time  he  plays  upon  it,  and  will  not 
prove  a  snug  source  of  income  to  its  builders — for  repairs. 

The  organ -student,  the  amateur,  and  eke  the  professional 
organist,  will  also  find  much  here  that  will  interest  them  and 
lead  to  a  better  understanding  of  the  'instrument. 

The  revolution  in  organ-building  herein  described  has  for  the 
most  part  taken  place  under  the  personal  notice  of  the  author, 
during  the  last  fifty  years.  The  organists  of  a  younger  genera- 
tion are  to  be  congratulated  on  the  facilities  now  placed  at  their 
disposal,  mainly  by  the  genius  and  persevering  efforts  of  four 
men — as  hereinafter  described. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  I 

As   It   Was   in    the   Beginning 9 

CHAPTER  II 

The   Organ    in   the    Nineteenth    Century 13 

CHAPTER  III 

The  Dawn  of  a  New  Era ;  the  Pneumatic  Lever 18 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Pneumatic  and  Electro-pneumatic  Actions — Tubular  Pneu- 
matics— Division  of  Organs — Sound  Reflection — Octave 

Couplers    and    Extensions .     25 

CHAPTER  V 

Stop-keys — Control   of  the   Stops 42 

CHAPTER  VI 

Radiating    and    Concave    Pedal    Boards — Pedal-stop    Control — 

Suitable   Bass  Attachments 48 

CHAPTER  VII 

Means  of  Obtaining  Expression — Crescendo  Pedal — Sforzando 
Pedal — Double  Touch — Balanced  Swell  Pedal — Control  of 
Swell  by  Keys — Swell  Boxes — the  Sound  Trap  Joint — 

Vacuum    Swell    Shutters 53 

CHAPTER  VIII 

A/  Revolution  in  Wind   Supply — Springs  vs.   Weights — Individ- 
ual   Pallets — Heavy   Wind   Pressures — Mechanical    Blowers    62 
CHAPTER  IX 

Transference    of    Stops — Double    Touch — Pizzicato    Touch — the 

Unit    Organ — Sympathy     68 

CHAPTER  X 

Production  of  Organ  Tone — Acoustics  of  Organ  Pipes — Estey 
Open  Bass  Pipes — Diapasons — Flutes — Strings — Reeds — 
Vowel  Cavities — Undulating  Stops  (Celestes) — Percussion 

Stops — the    Diaphone    73 

CHAPTER  XI 

Tuning — Equal  Temperament — New  Method  of  Tuning  Reeds . .   107 
CHAPTER  XII 

Progress  of  the  Revolution   in   Our  Own  Country 112 

CHAPTER  XIII 

Chief  Actors— Barker— Cavaille--Coll— Willis— Hope- Jones  119 

CHAPTER  XIV 

How  We  Stand  To-day — Automatic  Players — Specifications  of 
Notable  Organs :  St.  George's  Hall,  Liverpool ;  Notre  Dame, 
Paris ;  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London ;  Westminster  Abbey ; 


Contents — Con  tin  ued 

Balruddery,  Scotland :  Worcester  Cathedral ;  Yale  Univer- 
sity, U.  S.  A. ;  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Buffalo :  Paris  Theatre, 
Denver ;  Cathedral  of  St.  John  the  Divine,  New  York ;  Uni- 
versity of  Toronto,  Canada ;  City  Hall,  Portland,  Me. ; 

Liverpool    Cathedral,    England 150 

'  INDEX  TO  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Prehistoric  Double  Flutes 10 

The  Wind-chest ;  Front  View.     The  Wind-chest :  Side  View 15-1G 

The  Pneumatic  Lever   19 

Portrait  of  Moitessier    23 

Tubular  Pneumatic  Action    27 

The  First  Electric  Organ  Ever  Built 31 

The  Electro-Pneumatic  Lever   34 

Valve  and  Yalve  Seat,  Hope-Jones  Electric  Action 35 

Portrait  of  Dr.  Peschard  37 

Console,  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Buffalo 4J 

Console  on  Bennett   System    43 

Console,   Trinity   Church,   Boston    44 

Console,  College  of  City  of  New  York 45 

Principle  of  the  Sound  Trap   59 

Sound  Trap  Joint   59 

The  Vacuum   Shutter    60 

Estey's  Open  Bass  Pipes 76 

Diapason  Pipe  with  Leathered  Lip 82 

Haskell's  Clarinet  without  Reed    89 

Diagram  of  Reed  Pipe 90 

Vowel  Cavities   92 

Diaphone    in    Worcester    Cathedral    96 

Diaphone  in  Aberdeen  University '.<7 

Diaphone   in    St,   Patrick's,    N.    Y 98 

Diaphone  in  Auditorium,  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J 100 

Diaphone  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  Buffalo 102 

Diaphone  Producing  Foundation  Tone 104 

New  Method  of  Tuning   Reeds 108 

Portrait  of  Charles  Spachman  Barker 118 

Portrait  of  Aristide  Cavaill6-Coll   125 

Portrait  of   Henry   Willis 131 

Portrait  of  Robert  Hope-Jones 139 

Keyboards  of  Organ,   St.   George's  Hall 154 

Keyboards  of  Organ,  Notre  Dame.  Paris 157 

Keyboards  of  Organ,  Westminster  Abbey 160 

Organ  in  Balruddery  Mansion,  Dundee,  Scotland 167 

The  Author  Playing  a  Hope- Jones  Unit  Orchestra 178 


THE  RECENT  REVOLUTION 
IN  ORGAN  BUILDING 

CHAPTER  I. 

As  IT  WAS  IN  THE  BEGINNING. 

"The   Organ   breathes   its   deep-voiced   solemn  notes, 
The  people  join  and  sing,  in  pious  hymns 
And  psalms  devout;  harmoniously  attun'd, 
The   Choral   voices  blend ;   the  long-drawn  aisles 
At  every  close  the  ling'ring  strains  prolong/  ~* 
And  now,  of  varied  tubes  and  reedy  pipes,  V^. 
The  skilful  hand  a  soften'd  stop  controuls ; 
In  sweetest  harmony  the  dulcet  strains  steal  forth, 
Now  swelling  high,  and  now  subdued ;  afar  they  float 
In  lengthened  whispers  melting  into  cadenced  murmurs, 
Forming  soft  melodious  strains,  and  placid  airs, 
Spreading  gently  all  around,  then  soaring  up  to  Heav'n !" 

— Dryden. 

THE  origin  of  the  pipe  organ  is  lost  in  the  mists  of  antiquity. 
Tradition  hath  it  that  there  was  one  in  Solomon's  Temple  at 
Jerusalem,  the  sound  of  which  could  be  heard  at  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  It  has  the  honor  of  being  the  first  wind  instrument 
mentioned  in  the  Bible  (Genesis  iv,  21),  where  we  are  told  that 
"Jubal  is  the  father  of  all  such  as  handle  the  harp  and  the 
organ."  The  Hebrew  word  here  is  ugdb,  which  is  sometimes 
translated  in  the  Septuagint  by  cithara  (the  ancient  lute),  some- 
times by  psalm,  sometimes  by  organ.  Sir  John  Stainer  ("Dic- 
tionary of  Musical  Terms,"  p.  444)  says:  "It  is  probable  that 
in  its  earliest  form  the  ugdb  was  nothing  more  than  a  Pan's- 
pipes  or  syrinx,  but  that  it  gradually  developed  into  a  more  im- 
portant instrument."  The  passage,  however,  shows  that  the 
ugab  was  known  in  the  time  of  Moses,  who  was  "learned  in  all 
the  learning  of  the  Egyptians." 


10 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


The  flute,  a  component  part  of  the  organ,  is  one  of  the  most 
ancient  of  musical  instruments.  We  find  it  pictured  on  the 
walls  of  early  Egyptian  tombs,  and  specimens  of  it,  still  in 
playable  condition,  have  been  unearthed  and  can  be  seen  in  our 
museums.  Some  of  them  were  double,  as  shown  in  the  illustra- 


Pre-historic  Double  Flutes.    From  Assyrian  and  Egyptian  Tombs 

tion.  Side  by  side  with  these  flutes  we  find  the  shepherd's  pipe 
with  a  reed  or  strip  of  cane  in  the  mouthpiece,  which  may  be 
found  in  the  Tyrol  at  the  present  day.  The  next  step  was 
probably  the  bagpipes.  Here  we  find  four  of  these  pipes  attached 
to  a  bag.  The  melody  or  tune  is  played  on  one  of  the  pipes 
furnished  with  holes  for  the  purpose,  while  the  other  three  give 
a  drone  bass.  The  bag,  being  blown  up,  forms  a  wind  reservoir 
and  the  amount  of  tone  can  be  regulated  by  the  pressure  of  the 
arm.  Here  we  have  the  precursor  of  the  organ  bellows.  Next 
comes  the  Irish  bagpipes,  with  a  bellows  worked  by  the  arm 
furnishing  the  wind  to  the  bag,  the  reservoir,  and  producing  a 
much  sweeter  tone.  This  is  one  line  of  advance. 

On  the  other  hand  we  have  the  syrinx  or  PanVpipes.    Stainer 
says  this  was  undoubtedly  the  precursor  of  the  organ.     "It  was 


o 


As  It  Was  in  the  Beginning  11 

formed  of  seven,,  eight  or  nine  short  hollow  reeds,  fixed  together 
by  wax,  and  cut  in  graduated  lengths  so  as  to  produce  a  musical 
scale.  The  lower  ends  of  the  reeds  were  closed  and  the  upper 
open  and  on  a  level,  so  that  the  mouth  could  easily  pass  from  one 
pipe  to  another."  This  is  the  instrument  used*at  the  present 
day  by  the  Punch  and  Judy  man.  He  wears  it  fastened  around 
his  throat,  turning  his  head  from  side  to  side  as  he  blows,  while 
with  his  hands  he  beats  a  drum. 

The  next  step  would  be  to  combine  a  set  of  flutes  or  shepherd's 
pipes  with  the  wind  reservoir  of  the  bagpipes,  placing  a  little 
slider  under  the  mouthpiece  of  each  pipe  which  could  be  opend9 
or  closed  afrwill,  so  that  they  would  not  all  speak  at  once.  Then 
some  genius  steadied  the  wind  pressure  by  pumping  air  into  a 
reservoir  partly  filled  with  water.  This  was  the  so-called 
"hydraulic  organ,"  which  name  has  given  rise  to  the  impression 
that  the  pipes  were  played  by  the  water  passing  through  them — 
which  is  impossible. 

And  so  we  come  down  the  ages  to  the  Christian  era.  The 
Talmud  mentions  an  organ  (magrepha)  having  ten  pipes  played 
by  a  keyboard  as  being  in  existence  in  the  Second  Century. 
"Aldhelm  (who  died  A.  D.  709)  mentions  an  organ  which  had 
gilt  pipes.  An  organ  having  leaden  pipes  was  placed  in  the 
Church  of  S.  Corneille,  at  Cdmpiegne,  in  the  middle  of  the 
Eighth  Century."  St.  Dunstan  had  an  organ  with  pipes  made 
of  brass.  Then  we  have  the  organ  in  Winchester  Cathedral, 
England,  described  by  Wulfstan  of  Winchester  in  his  "Life 
of  Saint  S  within."  This  was  a  double  organ,  requiring  two 
organists  to  play  it.  It  contained  400  pipes  and  had  thirteen 
pairs  of  bellows.  It  was  intended  to  be  heard  all  over  Winchester 
in  honor  of  St.  Peter,  to  whom  the  Cathedral  was  dedicated. 

The  year  was  now  A.  D.  951,  and  this  is  an  important  date  to 
remember,  as  modern  harmony  took  its  rise  about  this  time. 
Before  this,  as  far  as  we  know,  there  had  been  no  harmony 
beyond  a  drone  bass,  and  the  vast  companies  of  musicians  de- 


12  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

scribed  in  Holy  Writ  and  elsewhere  must  have  played  and  sung 
in  octaves  and  unison.  I  quote  Stainer  again: 

"The  large  pipes  of  every  key  of  the  oldest  organs  stood  in 
front;  the  whole  instrument  sounded  and  shrieked  in  a  harsh 
and  loud  manner.  The  keyboard  had  eleven,  twelve,  even 
thirteen  keys  in  diatonic  succession  without  semitones.  It  was 
impossible  to  get  anything  else  than  a  choral  melody  for  one 
voice  only  on  such  an  organ  *  *  *  the  breadth  of  a  key- 
board containing  nine  keys  extended  to  three-quarters  the  length 
of  a  yard,  that  of  the  single  key  amounted  to  three  inches  *  *  * 
even  from  five  to  six  inches  *  *  *  /The  valve's  of  the  keys 
and  the  whole  mechanism  being  clumsy,  playing  with  the 
finger  was  not  to  be  thought  of,  but  the  keys  were  obliged  to 
be  struck  with  the  clenched  fist,  and  the  organist  was  often 
called  'pulsator  organum  (organ  beater)." 

Gradually  the  keys  were  reduced  in  size  and  the  semitones 
were  added.  By  1499  they  had  almost  reached  the  present  nor- 
mal proportions.  In  1470  pedals  were  invented  by  Bernard, 
the  German,  a  skilful  musician  of  Venice,  the  pipe  work  was 
improved  and  so  we  come  to  the  Sixteenth  Century*  after  which 
the  organ  remained  almost  in  statu  quo  for  hundreds  of  years. 

Since  then  there  have  been  four  great  landmarks  in  organ 
construction,  viz: 

1.  The  invention  of  the  swell  box  by  Jordan  in  1712; 

2.  The  invention  of  the  horizontal  bellows,  by  Samuel  Green, 
in  1789; 

3.  The  invention  of  the  pneumatic  lever  by  Barker  in  1832 ; 
and  the  electro-pneumatic  action,  by  Peschard  in  1866;  and, 

4.  The  marvelous  improvements  in  mechanism  and  tone  pro- 
duction and  control  in  1886  to  1913  by  Eobt.  Hope-Jones. 


*The  organ  compositions  of  Frescobaldi,  a  celebrated  Italian  organist 
who  flourished  1591-1640,  show  that  the  organ  must  in  his  time  have  been 
playable  by  the  fingers. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  ORGAN  IN  THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

BEFORE  proceeding  further  we  propose  to  give  a  brief  description 
of  the^  construction  of  the  organ  at  the  beginning  of  the  last 
century  and  explain  the  technical  terms  we  shall  use  later. 

As  everybody  knows,  the  tone  comes  from  the  pipes,  some  of 
which  are  to  be  seen  in  the  front  of  the  instrument.  The  pipes 
are  of  various  shapes  and  sizes  and  are  arranged  in  ranks  or 
rows  upon  the  wind-chest.  Each  of  these  ranks  is  called  a  stop 
or  register.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  this  word  stop 
refers  to  the  row  of  pipes,  and  not  to  the  stop-knobs  by  the 
keyboard  which  operate  the  mechanism  bringing  the  row  of 
pipes  into  play.  Much  confusion  of  ideas  prevails  on  this  point, 
and  cheap  builders  used  to  take  advantage  of  it  by  providing 
two  stop-knobs  for  each  row  of  pipes,  thereby  making  their 
instruments  appear  to  contain  more  pipes  than  were  actually 
there.  This  practice  was  at  one  time  very  prevalent  in  the 
United  States. 

The  early  organ-builders  to  obtain  variety  of  tone  divided 
the  pipes  into  groups  placed  in  various  positions,  each  playable 
from  a  separate  keyboard,  and  this  practice  prevails  to  this  day. 
An  average  church  organ  will  contain  three  or  four  wind-chests, 
each  with  its  quota  of  pipes  and  designated  as  follows: 

1.  The  Great  organ,  consisting  of  the  front  pipes  and  other 
loud-speaking  stops.     Back  of  this  and  usually  elevated  above 
the  level  of  the  Great  organ  pipes  is 

2.  The  Swell  organ,  all  the  pipes,  of  which  are  contained  in 
a  wooden  box  with  Venetian  shutters  in  front,  the  opening  or 
closing  of  which  modifies  the  tone ;  below  the  Swell  box  is  placed 

3.  The  Choir  organ,  containing  soft  speaking  pipes  suitable 


14  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

for  accompanying  the  human  voice;  and  back  of  all  or  on  the 
sides  is 

4.  The  Pedal  organ,  containing  the  large  pipes  played  by  the 
pedals. 

Larger  instruments  have  still  another  wind-chest  called  the 
Solo  organ,  the  pipes  of  which  are  very  loud  and  are  usually 
placed  high  above  the  Great  organ. 

In  some  large  English  organs,  notably  that  in  the  Town  Hall 
of  Leeds,  a  further  division  was  effected,  the  pipes  of  the  Great 
organ  being  placed  on  two  wind-chests,  one  behind  the  other. 
They  were  known  as  Front  Great  and  Back  Great. 

The  original  reason  for  dividing  a  church  organ  in  this  man- 
ner seems  to  have  been  the  impossibility  of  supplying  a  large 
number  of  stops  with  wind  from  a  single  wind-chest. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  our  average  church  organ  is  really 
made  up  of  three  or  four  smaller  organs  combined. 

The  wind-chest  is  an  oblong  box  supplied  with  air  under  pres- 
sure from  the  bellows  and  containing  the  valves  (called  pallets) 
controlling  the  access  of  the  wind  to  the  pipes.  Between  the 
pallet  and  the  foot  of  the  pipe  comes  another  valve  called  tlw 
slider,  which  controls  the  access  of  the  wind  to  the  whole  row 
of  pipes  or  stop.  The  pallet  is  operated  from  the  keyboard  by 
the  key  action.  Every  key  on  the  keyboard  has  a  corresponding 
pallet  in  the  wind-chest,  and  every  stop-knob  operates  a  slider 
under  the  pipes,  so  that  both  a  slider  must  be  drawn  and  a 
pallet  depressed  before  any  sound  can  be  got  from  the  pipes. 
The  drawings  will  make  this  plain. 

Fig.  1  is  a  front  view  and  Fig.  2  a  side  view  of  the  wind- 
chest.  A  is  the  wind-chest  into  which  compressed  atmospheric 
air  has  been  introduced,  either  through  the  side  or  bottom,  from 
the  end  of  the  wind-trunk  B.  The  pallets,  c  c  c,  are  held 
against  the  openings,  D  D  D,  leading  from  the  wind-chest  to  the 
mouth  of  the  pipes,  by  springs  underneath  them. 

The  spring  S  (Fig.  2)  keeps  the  pallet  c  against  the  opening 


The  Organ  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 


15 


into  D.  I  The  wires  called  pull-downs  (P,  p,  p),  which  pass 
through  small  holes  in  the  bottom  of  the  wind-chest  and  are 
in  connection  with  the  keyboard,  are  attached  to  a  loop  of  wire 


Fig.   1.     The  Wind-chest.     Front  View 

called  the  pallet-eye,  fastened  to  the  movable  end  of  the  pallet. 
A  piece  of  wire  is  placed  on  each  side  of  every  pallet  to  steady  it 
and  keep  it  in  the  perpendicular  during  its  ascent  and  descent, 


16 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


and  every  pallet  is  covered  at  top  with  soft  leather,  to  make  it 
fit  closely  and  work  quietly.  When  p  is  pulled  down  (Fig.  1) 
the  pallet  c  descends,  and  air  from  the  wind-chest  A  rushes 
through  D  into  the  pipe  over  it.  But  the  slider  /  is  a  narrow 
strip  of  wood,  so  placed  between  the  woodwork  g  and  h  that  it 


Fig.  2.     The  Wind-chest.     Side  View 

may  be  moved  backwards  and  forwards  from  right  to  left,  and 
is  pierced  with  holes  corresponding  throughout  to  those  just 
under  the  pipes.  If  the  apertures  in  the  slider  are  under  the 
pipes,  the  opening  of  a  pallet  will  make  a  pipe  speak;  if,  how- 
ever, the  slider  has  been  moved  so  that  the  apertures  do  not 
correspond,  even  if  the  pallet  be  opened  and  the  chest  full  of  air 
from  the  trunks,  no  sound  will  be  produced. 


The  Organ  in  the  Nineteenth  Century  17 

When  the  apertures  in  the  slider  are  under  those  below  the 
pipe,  the  "stop,"  the  handle  of  which  controls  the  position  of  the 
slider,  is  said  to  be  out,  or  drawn.  When  the  apertures  do  not 
correspond,  the  stop  is  said  to  be  in.  Thus  it  is  that  when  no 
stops  are  drawn  no  sound  is  produced,  even  although  the  wind- 
chest  be  full  of  air  and  the  keys  played  upon. 

This  wind-chest  with  the  slider  stop  control  is  about  all  that 
is  left  to  us  of  the  old  form  of  key  action.  The  pallets  were 
connected  to  the  keys  by  a  series  of  levers,  known  as  the  tracker 
action. 

There  were  usually  six  joints  or  sources  of  friction,  between 
the  key  and  the  pallet.  To  overcome  this  resistance  and  close 
the  pallet  required  a  strong  spring.  Inasmuch  as  it  would  never 
do  to  put  all  the  large  pipes  (because  of  their  weight)  at  one 
end  of  the  wind-chest,  they  were  usually  divided  between  the 
two  ends  and  it  became  necessary  to  transfer  the  pull  of  the  keys 
sideways,  which  was  done  by  a  series  of  rollers  called  the  roller- 
board.  This,  of  course,  increased  the  friction  and  necessitated 
the  use  of  a  still  stronger  spring.  That  with  the  increased  area 
of  the  pallet  is  why  the  lower  notes  of  the  organ  were  so  hard 
to  play.  And  to  the  resistance  of  the  spring  must  also  be  added 
the  resistance  of  the  wind-pressure,  which  increased  with  every 
stop  drawn.  When  the  organ  was  a  large  one  with  many  stops, 
and  the  keyboards  were  coupled  together,  it  required  consider- 
able exertion  to  bring  out  the  full  power  of  the  instrument; 
sometimes  the  organist  had  to  stand  on  the  pedals  and  throw 
the  weight  of  his  body  on  the  keys  to  get  a  big  chord.  All  kinds 
of  schemes  were  tried  to  lighten  the  "touch,"  as  the  required 
pressure  on  the  keys  is  called,  the  most  successful  of  which  was 
dividing  the  pallet  into  two  parts  which  admitted  a  small  quan- 
tity of  wind  to  enter  the  groove  and  release  the  pressure  before 
the  pallet  was  fully  opened;  but  even  on  the  best  of  organs  the 
performance  of  music  played  with  ease  upon  modern  instruments 
was  absolutely  impossible. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  DAWX  OF  A   \i:\v  ERA — THE  PXHTMATIC   LEVER. 

J  UST  as  we  no  longer  see  four  men  tugging  at  the  steering  wheel 
of  an  ocean  steamer,  the  intervention  of  the  steam  steering  gear 
rendering  the  use  of  so  much  physical  force  unnecessary,  so  it 
now  occurred  to  an  organ-builder  in  the  city  of  Bath,  England, 
rfamed  Charles  Spachman  Barker,*  to  enlist  the  force  of  the 
organ  wind  itself  to  overcome  the  resistance  of  the  pallets  in 
the  wind-chest.  This  contrivance  is  known  as  the  pneumatic 
lever,  and  consists  of  a  toy  bellows  about  nine  inches  long, 
inserted  in  the  middle  of  the  key  action.  The  exertion  of  de- 
pressing the  key  is  now  reduced  to  the  small  amount  of  force 
required  to  open  a  valve,  half  an  inch  in  width,  which  admits 
wind  to  the  bellows.  The  bellows,  being  expanded  by  the  wind, 
pulls  down  the  pallet  in  the  wind-chest;  the  bellows  does  all 
the  hard  work.  The  drawing  on  the  next  page,  which  shows  the 
lever  as  improved  by  the  eminent  English  organ-builder,  Henry 
Willis,  shows  the  cycle  of  operation. 

When  either  the  finger  or  foot  is  pressed  upon  a  key  connected 
with  /«•,  the  outer  end  of  the  back-fall  gg  is  pulled  down,  which 
opens  the  pallet  p.  The  compressed  air  in  a  then  rushes  through 
the  groove  bb  into  the  bellows  cc,  which  rises  and  lifts  with  it 
all  the  action  attached  to  it  by  /.  As  the  top  of  the  bellows  cc 
rises,  it  lifts  up  the  throttle-valve  d  (regulated  by  the  wire  ra) 
which  prevents  the  ingress  of  any  more  compressed  air  by  bb. 
But  the  action  of  the  key  on  gg,  which  opened  the  pallet  pf 


*The  invention  of  the  pneumatic  lever  has  been  claimed  for  Mr.  Ham- 
ilton, of  Edinburgh,  Scotland.  It  is,  however,  generally  credited  to 
Barker  and  known  •  as  the  "Barker  pneumatic  lever."  (See  also  note 
about  Joseph  Booth,  page  129.) 


TJie  Dnirn  of  a  New  Era 


10 


also  allowed  the  double-acting  waste-valve  e  to  close,  and  the  tape 
/  hangs  loose.  The  compressed  air,  therefore,  as  it  is  admitted 
through  &&  cannot  escape,  but  on  the  other  hand  when  the  key 
releases  the  outer  end  of  g,  and  lets  it  rise  up  again,  the  tape  / 


CLOSED 


OPEN 


fojQfoy  ^ 


Fig.  3.     The  Pneumatic  Lever 

becomes  .tightened  and  opens  the  waste-valve,  the  bellows  cc 
then  drops  into  its  closed  position. 

The  organ  touch  could  now  be  made  as  light  as  that  of  a 
pianoforte,  much  lighter  than  ever  before. 

This  epoch-making  invention,  introduced  in  1832,  rendered 
possible  extraordinary  developments.  It  was  at  first  strangely 
ignored  and  opposed.  The  English  organ-builders  refused  to 


20  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

take  it  up.  Barker  was  at  length  driven  to  France,  where,  in 
the  person  of  Aristide  Cavaille-Coll,  he  found  a  more  far-seeing 
man. 

After  Cavaille-Coll  had  fully  demonstrated  the  practical  value 
of  Barker's  invention,  Willis  and  others  joined  in  its  develop- 
ment, and  they  contemporaneously  overcame  all  difficulties  and 
brought  the  pneumatic  action  into  general  favor. 

This  process,  of  course,  took  time,  and  up  to  about  fifty  years 
ago  pneumatic  action  was  found  only  in  a  few  organs  of  large 
calibre. 

The  recent  revolution  in  organ  building  and  in  organ  tone, 
of  which  this  book  treats,  was  founded  upon  the  pneumatic  and 
electro-pneumatic  actions  invented  by  Barker.* 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  art  of  organ  building  has  advanced 
more  during  the  last  fifty  years  than  in  any  previous  three 
centuries.  We  are  literally  correct  in  saying  that  a  veri- 
table revolution  has  already  been  effected — and  the  end  is 
not  yet. 

As  leaders  in  this  revolutionary  movement,  three  names  stand 
out  with  startling  prominence — Henry  Willis,  Aristide  Cavaille- 
Coll  and  Eobert  Hope-Jones. 

Others  have  made  contributions  to  detail  (notably  Hilborne 
L.  Eoosevelt) ,  but  it  is  due  to  the  genius,  the  inventions  and  the 
work  of  those  three  great  men  that  the  modern  organ  stands 
where  it  does  to-day. 

We  propose: 

1.  To  enumerate  and  describe  the  inventions  and  improve- 
ments that  have  so  entirely  transformed  the  instrument; 

2.  To  trace  the  progress  of  the  revolution  in  our  own  country; 
and, 

3.  To  describe  the  chief  actors  in  the  drama. 


*Barker   was   also    associated   with    Peschard,    who    in    1864   patented 
jointly  with  him  the  electro-pneumatic  action.      (See  page  37.) 


The  Dawn  of  a  New  Era  21 

In  the  middle  of  the  last  century  all  organs  were  voiced  on 
light  wind  pressure,*  mostly  from  an  inch  and  a  half  to  three 
inches.  True,  the  celebrated  builder,  William  Hill,  placed  in 
his  organ  at  Birmingham  Town  Hall,  England,  so  early  as  1833, 
a  Tuba  voiced  on  about  eleven  inches  wind  pressure,  and  Willis, 
Cavaille-Coll,  Gray  and  Davison,  and  others,  adopted  high 
pressures  for  an  occasional  reed  stop  in  their  largest  organs; 
yet  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the  organs  built  throughout  the 
world  were  voiced  on  pressures  not  exceeding  three  and  one- 
half  inches. 

In  those  days  most  organs  that  were  met  with  demanded  a 
finger  force  of  some  twenty  ounces  before  the  keys  could  be 
depressed,  when  coupled,  and  it  was  no  uncommon  thing  for 
the  organist  to  have  to  exert  a  pressure  of  fifty  ounces  or  more 
on  the  bass  keys.  (The  present  standard  is  between  three  and 
four  ounces.  We  are  acquainted  with  an  organ  in  New  York 
City  which  requires  a  pressure  of  no  less  than  forty  ounces  to 
depress  the  bass  keys.) 

The  manual  compass  on  these  organs  seldom  extended  higher 
than  f2  or  g3,  though  it  often  went  down  to  GG.f 

It  was  common  to  omit  notes  from  the  lower  octave  for 
economy's  sake,  and  many  stops  were  habitually  left  destitute  of 


*The  pressure  of  the  wind  supplied  by  the  old  horizontal  bellows  is 
regulated  by  the  weights  placed  on  top.  The  amount  of  this  pressure  is 
measured  by  a  wind-gauge  or  anemometer  invented  by  Christian  Former 
about  1677.  It  is  a  bent  glass  tube,  double  U  shaped,  into  which  a  little 
water  is  poured.  On  placing  one  end  of  it  fitted  with  a  socket  into  one 
of  the  holes  in  the  wind-chest  (in  place  of  a  pipe)  and  admitting  the 
wind  from  the  bellows  the  water  is  forced  up  the  tube,  and  the  difference 
between  the  level  of  the  .surface  of  the  water  in  the  two  legs  of  the  tube 
is  measured  in  inches.  Thus,  we  always  talk  of  the  pressure  of  wind 
in  an  organ  as  being  so  many  inches. 

rThe  organ  in  Great  Homer  Street  Wesleyan  Chapel,  Liverpool,  Eng- 
land, had  manuals  extending  down  to  CCC.  It  was  built  for  a  man  who 
could  not  play  the  pedals  and  thus  obtained  16  ft.  tone  from  the  keys. 
The  old  gallery  organ  in  Trinity  Church,  New  York,  also  has  this  compass. 


22  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

their  bottom  octaves  altogether.     Frequently  the  less  important 
keyboards  would  not  descend  farther  than  tenor  C.* 

The  compass  of  the  pedal  board  (when  there  was  a  pedal 
board  at  all)  varied  anywhere  from  one  octave  to  about  two  and 
a  quarter  octaves.  The  pedal  keys  were  almost  invariably 
straight  and  the  pedal  boards  flat. 


-J-ce^k 

*ei: 

/T>  '                                 jf      J 

d*               rL 

Fig.  4.     Nomenclature  of  Organ  Keyboard 

*Tenor  C  is  the  lowest  note  of  the  tenor  voice  or  the  tenor  violin 
(viola).  It  is  one  octave  from  the  bottom  note  of  a  modern  organ  key- 
board, which  is  called  CC.  The  lowest  note  of  the  pedal-board  is  CCC. 
Counting  from  the  bottom  upwards  on  the  manual  we  have,  therefore,  CC 
(double  C),  C  (tenor  C),  c  (middle  C),  c1  (treble  C),  c2  (C  in  alt)  and 
c3  (C  in  altissimo).  This  is  the  highest  note  on  the  keyboard  of  61  keys. 
According  to  the  modern  nomenclature  of  the  pianoforte  keyboard  this 
note  is  c4,  and  is  frequently  so  stated  erroneously  in  organ  specifications. 

GG  is  four  notes  below  CC,  the  break  in  the  scale  coming  between  GO 
and  FFF.  Tenor  C  is  an  important  note  to  remember.  Here  is  where 
the  cheap  builder  came  in  again.  He  cut  his  stops  short  at  tenor  C, 
trusting  to  the  pedal  pipes  to  cover  the  deficiency. 


PROSPER-ANTOIttE  MOITESSIER, 

INVENTOR  OF  TUBULAR  PNEUMATIC  ACTION 

In  the  year  1845,  Prospei-Antoine  Moitessier,  an  organ-builder  of 
Montpellier,  France,  patented  what  he  called  "abr£g6  pneumatique,"  an 
organ  action  in  which  all  back-falls  and  rollers. were  replaced  by  tubes 
operated  by  exhaust  air.  In  1850  he  built  with  this  action  an  organ  of 
42  speaking  stops  for  the  church  of  Notre  Dame  de  la  .Dalbade  at  Tou- 
louse. This  organ  lasted  33  years.  In  18(50  Fermis,  schoolmaster  and 
village  organist  of  Hanterire,  near  Toulouse,  improved  on  Moitessicr's 
action  by  combining  tubes  conveying  compressed  air  with  the  Barker 
lever.  An  organ  was  built  on  this  system  for  the  Paris  Exhibition  of 
1867,  which  came  under  the  notice  of  Henry  Willis,  by  which  he  was  so 
struck  that  he  was  stimulated  to  experiment  and  develop  his  action,  which 
culminated  in  the  St.  Paul's  organ  in  1872.  (From  article  by  Dr.  Gabriel 
Bedart  in  Musical  Opinion,  London,  July,  1908.) 


CHAPTER  IV. 

PNEUMATIC  AND  ELECTRO-PNEUMATIC  ACTIONS. 

UNDOUBTEDLY  the  first  improvements  to  be  named  must  be  the 
pneumatic  and  electro-pneumatic  actions. 

Without  the  use  of  these  actions  most  of  the  advances  we  are 
about  to  chronicle  would  not  have  been  effected. 

As  before  stated,  Cavaille-Coll  and  Willis  worked  as  pioneers 
in  perfecting  and  in  introducing  the  pneumatic  action. 

The  pneumatic  action  used  by  Willis,  Cavaille-Coll  and  a  score 
of  other  builders  leaves  little  to  be  desired.  It  is  thoroughly 
reliable  and,  where  the  keys  are  located  close  by  the  organ,  is 
fairly  prompt  both  in  attack  and  repetition.  Many  of  the 
pneumatic  actions  made  to-day,  however,  are  disappointing  in 
these  particulars. 


TUBULAR  PNEUMATICS.* 


In  the  year  1872  Henry  Willis  built  an  organ  for  St.  Paul's 
Cathedral,  London,  which  was  divided  in  two  portions,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  junction  of  the  Choir  with  the  Dome  at  an 
elevation  of  about  thirty  feet  from  the  floor.  The  keyboards 
were  placed  inside  one  portion  of  the  instrument,  and  instead  of 
carrying  trackers  down  and  under  the  floor  and  up  to  the  other 
side,  as  had  hitherto  been  the  custom  in  such  cases,  he  made  the 
connection  by  means  of  tubes  like  gaspipes,  and  made  a  pulse 
of  wind  travel  down  and  across  and  up  and  into  the  pneumatic 

*The  researches  of  Dr.  Gabriel  B^dart,  Professeur  agre^e1  Physiologie 
in  the  University  of  Lille,  France,  a  learned  and  enthusiastic  organ 
connoisseur,  have  brought  to  light  the  fact  that  the  first  tubular  pneumatic 
action  was  constructed  by  Moitessier  in  France  in  1835.  It  was  designed 
upon  the  exhaust  principle. 


26  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

levers  controlling  the  pipes  and  stops.  Sir  John  Stainer  de- 
scribes it  as  "a  triumph  of  mechanical  skill.'7  He  was  organist 
of  St.  Paul's  for  many  years  and  ought  to  know.  This  was  all 
very  well  for  a  cathedral,  where 

"  .  .  .  .  the  long-drawn  aisles 
The  melodious  strains  prolong" 

but  here  is  what  the  eminent  English  organist,  W.  T.  Best,  said 
about  tubular  pneumatic  action  as  applied  to  another  organ  used 
for  concert  purposes :  "It  is  a  complete  failure ;  you  cannot  play 

a  triplet  on  the  Trumpet,  and  I  consider  it  the  most  d nable 

invention  ever  placed  inside  an  organ."  Notwithstanding  these 
drawbacks  this  action  became  very  fashionable  after  its  demon- 
stration at  St.  Paul's,  and  was  used  even  in  small  organs  in  pref- 
erence to  the  Barker  lever.  One  builder  confessed  to  the  writer 
that  he  had  suffered  severe  financial  loss  through  installing  this 
action.  After  expending  considerable  time  (and  time  is  money) 
in  getting  it  to  work  right,  the  whole  thing  would  be  upset  when 
the  sexton  started  up  the  heating  apparatus.  The  writer  is 
acquainted  with  organs  in  New  York  City  where  these  same 
conditions  prevail. 

The  writer,  however,  will  admit  having  seen  some  tubular 
actions  which  were  fairly  satisfactory,  one  in  particular  in  the 
factory  of  Alfred  Monk,  London,  England,  where  for  demon- 
stration purposes  the  tubes  were  fifty  feet  long.  Dr.  Bedart 
informs  us  that  Puget,  the  famous  organ  builder  of  Toulouse, 
France,  sets  fifty  feet  as  the  limit  of  usefulness  of  this  action. 

Henry  Willis  &  Sons  in  their  description  of  the  organ  in 
the  Lady  Chapel  of  Liverpool  Cathedral  state  that  their  action 
has  been  tested  to  a  repetition  of  1,000  per  minute,  quicker  than 
any  human  finger  can  move.  This  is  a  square  organ  in  one 
case,  but  we  note  they  have  adopted  the  electric  action  for  the 
great  cathedral  organ  where  the  distance  of  the  pipes  from  the 
keys  is  too  great  for  satisfactory  response. 


Pneumatic  and  Electro-Pneumatic  Actions  27 

In  view  of  the  wide  use  at  present  of  this  action  we  give  a 
drawing  and  description  of  its  operation  as  patented  and  made 
by  Mr.  J.  J.  Binns,  of  Bramley,  Leeds,  England.  J.  Matthews, 
in  his  "Handbook  of  the  Organ,"  says  that  this  action  is  very 
o-ood  and  free  from  drawbacks. 


Fig.   5.     Tubular  Pneumatic  Action 

The  tubes,  N,  from  each  key  are  fixed  to  the  hole  connected 
to  the  small  puffs  P  in  the  puff-board  E.  Air  under  pressure 
is  admitted  by  the  key  action  and  conveyed  by  the  tubes  N 
which  raises  the  corresponding  button  valves  S1,  lifting  their 
spindles  S  and  closing  the  apertures  T2  in  the  bottom  of  the 
wind-chest  A,  and  opening  a  similar  aperture  T  in  the  bottom 
of  the  cover-board  F,  causing  the  compressed  air  to  escape  from 
the  exhaust  bellows  M,  which  closes,  raising  the  solid  valve  H 
in  the  cover-board  F  and,  closing  the  aperture  J1  in  the  wind- 


28  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

chest  A,  shuts  off  the  air  from  the  bellows,  which  immediately 
closes,  drawing  down  the  pallet  B,  which  admits  air  (or  wind) 
to  the  pipes. 

No  tubular-pneumatic  action  is  entirely  satisfactory  when  the 
distance  between  the  keys  and  the  organ  is  great.  This  is  often 
due  to  a  law  of  nature  rather  than  to  imperfection  of  design  or 
workmanship. 

Pneumatic  pulses  travel  slowly — at  a  speed  which  does  not 
reach  1,100  feet  per  second.  In  large  organs  where  neces- 
sarily some  of  the  tubes  are  short  and  some  have  to  be  long,  it  is 
impossible  to  secure  simultaneous  speech  from  all  departments 
of  the  instrument,  and  in  addition  to  this  the  crisp  feeling  of 
direct  connection  with  his  pipes,  which  the  old  tracker  action 
secured  for  the  organist,  is  lost. 

It  is  generally  thought  amongst  the  more  advanced  of  the 
builders  and  organists  qualified  to  judge,  that  the  tubular-pneu- 
matic action  will  sooner  or  later  be  entirely  abandoned  in 
favor  of  the  electro-pneumatic  action.  Certain  it  is  that  the 
aid  of  electricity  is  now  called  in  in  practically  every  large  in- 
strument that  is  built  in  this  country,  and  in  an  increasing  pro- 
portion of  those  constructed  abroad. 

THE  CRYING  NEED  FOR  ELECTRIC   ACTION. 

The  instance  of  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  cited  above  shows  the 
demand  that  existed  at  that  time  for  means  whereby  the  organ 
could  be  played  with  the  keyboards  situated  at  some  distance 
from  the  main  body  of  the  instrument.  In  the  Cathedrals  the 
organ  was  usually  placed  on  a  screen  dividing  the  Choir  from  the 
Nave,  completely  obstructing  the  view  down  the  church.  There 
was  a  demand  for  its  removal  from  this  position  (which  was 
eventually  done  at  St.  Paul's,  Chester,  Durham,  and  other 
Cathedrals).  Then  in  the  large  parish  churches  the  quartet 
of  singers  in  the  west  gallery  where 'the  organ  was  placed  had 
been  abolished.  Boy  choirs  had  been  installed  in  the  chancel, 


Pneumatic  and  Electro-Pneumatic  Actions  29 

leaving  the  organ  and  organist  in  the  west  gallery,  to  keep  time 
together  as  best  they  could.  In  the  Cathedrals,  too,  the  organist 
was  a  long  way  off  from  the  choir.  How  glorious  it  would  be 
if  he  could  sit  and  play  in  their  midst !  Henry  Willis  &  Sons 
stated  in  a  letter  to  the  London  Musical  News,  in  1890,  that  they 
had  been  repeatedly  asked  to  make  such  arrangements  but  had 
refused,  "because  Dame  Nature  stood  in  the  way/'— which  she 
certainly  did  if  tubular  pneumatics  had  been  used.  The  fact 
was  that  up  to  this  time  all  the  electric  actions  invented  had 
proved  more  or  less  unreliable,  and  Willis,  who  had  an  artistic 
reputation  to  lose,  refused  to  employ  them.  As  an  instance  of 
their  clumsiness  we  may  mention  that  the  best  contact  they 
could  get  was  made  by  dipping  a  platinum  point  in  a  cell  con- 
taining mercury !  Other  forms  of  contact  rapidly  oxidized  and 
went  out  of  business. 

Dr.  Gauntlet,  about  the  year  1852,  took  out  a  patent  covering 
an  electric  connection  between  the  keys  and  the  pallets  of  an 
organ,*  but  the  invention  of  the  electro-pneumatic  lever  must 
be  ascribed  to  Barker  and  Dr.  Peschard.  The  latter  seems  to 
have  suggested  the  contrivance  and  the  former  to  have  done 
the  practical  work. 

Bryceson  Bros,  were  the  first  to  introduce  this  action  into 
English  organs.  They  commenced  work  along  these  lines  in 


*Dr.  Gauntlett's  idea  was  to  play  all  the  organs  shown  in  the  Great 
Exhibition  in  London,  in  1851,  from  one  central  keyboard.  He  pro- 
posed to  place  an  electro-magnet  inside  the  wind-chest  under  each  pallet, 
which  would  have  required  an  enormous  amount  of  electric  current.  The 
idea  was  never  carried  out.  This  plan  seems  also  to  have  occurred  to 
William  Wilkinson,  the  organ-builder  of  Kendal,  as  far  back  as  1862,  but, 
after  some  experiments,  was  abandoned.  An  organ  constructed  on  simi- 
lar lines  was  actually  built  by  Karl  G.  Weigl6,  of  Echterdingen,  near 
Stuttgart,  Germany,  in  1870,  and  although  not  at  all  a  success,  he  built 
another  on  the  same  principle  which  was  exhibited  at  the  Vienna  Exhi- 
bition in  1873.  Owing  to  the  powerful  current  necessary  to  open  the 
pallets,  the  contacts  fused  and  the  organ  was  nearly  destroyed  by  fire  on 
several  occasions. 


30  Tlie  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

1868,  under  the  Barker  patents,  their  first  organ  being  built 
behind  the  scenes  at  Her  Majesty's  Opera  House,  Drury  Lane. 
London,  the  keys  being  in  the  orchestra.  This  organ  was  used 
successfully  for  over  a  year,  after  which  it  was  removed  and 
shown  as  a  curiosity  in  the  London  Polytechnic  Institute,  re- 
citals being  given  twice  daily. 

Schmole  and  Molls,  Conti,  Trice  and  others  took  a  leading 
part  in  the  work  on  the  European  continent,  and  Roosevelt  was 
perhaps  its  greatest  pioneer  in  the  United  States. 

Various  builders  in  many  countries  have  more  recently  made 
scores  of  improvements  or  variations  in  form  and  have  taken 
out  patents  to  cover  the  points  of  difference,  but  none  of  these 
has  done  any  work  of  special  importance. 

Xot  one  of  the  early  electric  actions  proved  either  quick  or 
reliable,  and  all  were  costly  to  install  and  maintain.* 

This  form  of  mechanism,  therefore,  earned  a  bad  name  and 
was  making  little  advance,  if  not  actually  being  abandoned,  when 
a  skilled  electrician,  Robert  Hope-Jones,  entered  the  field  about 
1886.  Knowing  little  of  organs  and  nothing  of  previous  attempts 
to  utilize  electricity  for  this  service,  he  made  with  his  own  hands 
and  some  unskilled  assistance  furnished  by  members  of  his 
voluntary  choir,  the  first  movable  console,f  stop-keys,  double 
touch,  suitable  bass,  etc.,  and  an  electric  action  that  created  a 
sensation  throughout  the  organ  world.  In  this  action  the 


*Sir  John  Stainer,  in  the  1889  edition  of  his  "Dictionary  of  Musical 
Terms,"  dismisses  the  electric  action  in  a  paragraph  of  four  lines  as  of 
no  practical  importance.  In  that  same  year  the  writer  asked  Mr.  W.  T. 
Best  to  come  over  and  look  at  the  organ  in  St.  John's  Church,  Birken- 
head.  which  was  then  beginning  to  be  talked  about,  and  he  laughed  at 
the  idea  that  any  good  could  come  out  of  an  electric  action.  He  was  a 
man  of  wide  experience  who  gave  recitals  all  over  the  country  and  was 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  attempts  that  had  been  made  up  to  that 
time.  He  did  not  want  to  see  any  more  electric  organs. 

yConsole — the  keyboards,  pedals  and  stop  action  by  which  the  organ 
is  played :  sometimes  detached  from  the  instrument. 


The  First  Electric   Organ  Ever  Built 
In   the   Collegiate   Church  at  Salon,  Near  Marseilles,  France    (1866). 


Pneumatic  and  Electro-Pneumatic  Actions  33 

"pneumatic  blow"  was  for  the  first  time  attained  and  an  attack 
and  repetition  secured  in  advance  of  anything  thought  possible 
at  that  time,  in  connection  with  the  organ  or  the  pianoforte. 

Hope-Jones  introduced  the  round  wire  contact  which  secures 
the  ideally  perfect  "rubbing  points,"  and  he  makes  these  wires 
of  dissimilar  non-corrosive  metals  (gold  and  platinum). 

He  replaced  previous  rule-oi-thumb  methods  by  scientific  cal- 
culation, recognized  the  value  of  low  voltage,  good  insulation  and 
the  avoidance  of  self-induction,  with  the  result  that  the  electro- 
pneumatic  action  has  become  (when  properly  made)  as  reliable 
as  the  tracker  or  pneumatic  lever  mechanism. 

DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    ELECTRIC    ACTION. 

The  electric  action  consists  substantially  of  a  small  bellows 
like  the  pneumatic  lever,  but  instead  of  the  valve  admitting 
the  wind  to  operate  it  being  moved  by  a  tracker  leading  from 
the  key,  it  is  opened  by  an  electro-magnet,  energized  by  a  con- 
tact in  the  keyboard  and  connected  therewith  by  a  wire  which, 
of  course,  may  be  of  any  desired  length.  We  illustrate  one  form 
of  action  invented  and  used  by  Hope- Jones.* 

Within  the  organ,  the  wires  from  the  other  end  of  the  cable 
are  attached  to  small  magnets  specially  wound  so  that  no  spark 
results  when  the  electric  contact  at  the  key  is  broken.  This  mag- 
net attracts  a  thin  disc  of  iron  about  ]/\.  inch  in  diameter,  (held 
up  by  a  high  wind  pressure  from  underneath)  and  draws  it 
downward  through  a  space  of  less  than  1/100  of  an  inch. 

The  working  is  as  follows:  The  box  A  is  connected  with  the 
organ  bellows  and  so  (immediately  the  wind  is  put  into  the  or- 
gan) is  filled  with  air  under  pressure,  which  passes  upwards 
between  the  poles  of  the  magnet  N".  Lifting  the  small  iron  disc 
J,  it  finds  its  way  through  the  passage  L  into  the  small  motor  M, 

*From  Matthews'  "Handbook  of  the  Organ,"  p.  52  et  seq. 


34 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


thus  allowing  the  movable  portion  of  the  motor  M  to  remain  in 
its  lower  position,  the  pallet  C1  being  closed  and  the  pallet  C2 
being  open.  Under  these  conditions,  the  large  motor  B  collapses 


7o   ktu   c.ontix.'T- 


Fig.  6.   The  Electro-Pneumatic  Lever 

and  the  pull-down  P  (which  is  connected  with  the  organ  pallet) 
rises. 

When  a  weak  current  of  electricity  is  caused  to  circulate  round 
the  coils  of  the  electro-magnet  N,  the  small  armature  disc  J 
is  drawn  off  the  valve-seat  H  on  to  the  zinc  plate  K. 

The  compressed  air  from  within  the  small  motor  M  escapes 
by  way  of  the  passage  L,  through  the  openings  in  the  valve 
seat  H  into  the  atmosphere.  The  compressed  air  in  the  box  A 
then  acts  upon  the  movable  portion  of  the  small  motor  M  in 
such  a  manner  that  it  is  forced  upwards  and  caused  (through 
the  medium  of  the  pull-wire  E)  to  lift  the  supply  pallet  C1 
and  close  the  exhaust  pallet  C2,  thus  allowing  compressed  air  to 
rush  from  the  box  A  into  the  motor  B  and  so  cause  this  latter 


Pneumatic  and  Electro-Pneumatic  Actions 


35 


motor  to  open  and  (through  the  medium  of  the  pull  down  P)  to 
pull  the  soundboard  pallet  from  its  seat  and  allow  wind  to  pass 
into  the  pipes. 


'K 


Fig.   1.     Valve  and   Valve  Seat,  Hope-Jones  Electric  Action 


36  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

The  valve-seat  H  has  formed  on  its  lower  surface  two  crescent 
shaped  long  and  narrow  slits.  A  very  slight  movement  of  the 
armature  disc  J,  therefore,  suffices  to  open  to  the  full  extent 
two  long  exhaust  passages.  The  movement  of  this  disc  is  re- 
duced to  something  less  than  the  1/100  part  of  an  inch.  It  is, 
therefore,  alwa}Ts  very  close  to  the  poles  of  the  magnet,  con- 
sequently a  very  faint  impulse  of  electricity  will  suffice  (aided 
by  gravity)  to  draw  the  disc  off  the  valve-seat  H.  The  zinc 
plate  K  being  in  intimate  contact  with  the  iron  poles  of  the 
magnet  N,  protects  the  latter  from  rust  by  well-known  electrical 
laws.  All  the  parts  are  made  of  metal,  so  that  no  change  in  the 
weather  can  affect  their  relative  positions.  E  is  the  point  at 
which  the  large  motor  B  is  hinged.  G  is  a  spring  retaining  cap 
in  position;  0  the  wires  leading  from  the  keys  and  conveying 
the  current  to  the  magnet  N";  Q.  the  removable  side  of  the 
box  A. 

Fig.  7  represents  a  larger  view  of  the  plate  K  in  which  the 
magnet  poles  N  are  rigidly  fixed — of  a  piece  of  very  fine  chiffon 
M  (indicated  by  a  slightly  thicker  line)  which  prevents  particles 
of  dust  passing  through  so  as  to  interfere  with  the  proper  seat- 
ing of  the  soft  Swedish  charcoal  iron  armature  disc  J — of  the 
distance  piece  L  and  of  the  valve  seat  H. 

On  the  upper  surface  of  this  valve  seat  H  another  piece  of 
fine  chiffon  is  attached  to  prevent  possible  passage  of  dust  to  the 
armature  valve  J,  from  outside. 

As  all  parts  of  this  apparatus  are  of  metal  changes  in  humidity 
or  temperature  do  not  affect  its  regulation. 

The  use  of  this  action  renders  it  possible  for  the  console  (or 
keyboards,  etc.)  to  be*  entirely  detached  from  the  organ,  moved 
to  a  distance  and  connected  with  the  organ  by  a  cable  fifty  or 
one  hundred  feet  or  as  many  miles  long.  This  arrangement  may 
be  seen,  for  example,  in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York 
(built  by  the  E.  M.  Skinner  Co.),  where  the  console  is  carried 
to  the  middle  of  the  platform  when  a  recital  is  to  be  given,  and 


t 


• 


DR.  ALBERT  PESCHARD 
INVENTOR  OF   ELECTRO-PNEUMATIC   ACTION. 

DR  ALBERT  PESCHARD  was  born  in  1836,  qualified  as  an  advocate 
(Docteur  en  droit),  and  from  1857  to  1875  was  organist  of  the  Church  of 
St  fitienne,  Caen,  France.  He  commenced  to  experiment  in  electro-pneu- 
matics in  the  year  1860,  and  early  in  1861  communicated  his  discoveries 
to  Mr  Barker.  From  that  date  until  Barker  left  France,  Peschard 
collaborated  with  him,  reaping  no  pecuniary  benefit  therefrom.  Peschard, 
however,  was  honored  by  being  publicly  awarded  the  Medal  of  Merit  of  t 
Netherlands ;  the  Medal  of  Association  Frangaise  pour  1'Avancement  de 
la  Science ;  Gold  Medal,  Exhibition  of  Lyons ;  and  the  Gold  Medal,  Exhi 
bition  of  Bordeaux.  He  died  at  Caen,  December  23,  1903.  (From  Dr. 
Hinton's  "Story  of  the  Electric  Organ.") 


Pneumatic  and  Electro-Pneumatic  Actions 

removed  out  of  the  way  when  the  platform  is  wanted  for  other 

purposes. 

'  As  all  the  old  mechanism— the  backfalls,  roller-boards  and 
trackers— is  now  swept  away,  it  is  possible  by  placing  the  bellows 
in  the  cellar  to  utilize  the  inside  of  the  organ  for  a  choir-vestry, 
as  was  indeed  done  with  the  pioneer  Hope-Jones  organ  at  St. 
John's  Church,  Birkenhead. 

DIVISION   OF  ORGANS.    * 

Before  the  invention  of  pneumatic  and  electro-pneumatic 
action,  organs  were  almost  invariably  constructed  in  a  single 
mass.  It  was,  it  is  true,  possible  to  find  instruments  with  tracker 
action  that  were  divided  and  placed,  say,  half  on  either  side  of  a 
chancel,  but  instances  of  the  kind  were  rare  and  it  was  well  nigh 
impossible  for  even  a  muscular  organist  to  perform  on  such 

instruments. 

The  perfecting  of  tubular  pneumatic  and  especially  of  electi 
pneumatic  action  has  lent  wonderful  flexibility  to  the  organ  and 
has  allowed  of  instruments  being  introduced  in  buildings  where 
it  would  otherwise  have  been  impossible  to  locate   an  organ.' 
Almost  all  leading  builders  have  done  work  of  this  kind,  but  the 
Aeolian  Company  has  been  quickest  to  seize  the  advantage  of 
division  in  adapting  the  pipe  organ  for  use  in  private  residences. 
Sound  reflectors  have  recently  been  introduced,  and  it  seems 
likely  that  these  will  play   an  important  part  in  organ  con- 
struction in  the  future.    So  far  they  appear  to  be  employed  only 
by  Hope-Jones  and  the  firms  with  which  he  was  associated. 
It  has   been   discovered   that   sound   waves   may   be   collected, 
focussed  or  directed,  much  in  the  same  way  that  light  waves  can. 
In  the  case  of  the  Hope-Jones  organ  at  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J., 
the  greatest  part  of  the  instrument  has  been  placed  in  a  base- 
ment constructed  outside  the  original  Auditorium.     The  sound 
waves  are  thrown  upward  and  are  directed  into  the  Auditorium 
by  means  of  parabolic  reflectors  constructed  of  cement  lined 


40  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

with  wood.  The  effect  is  entirely  satisfactory.  In  Trinity 
Cathedral,  Cleveland,  Ohio,*  Hope-Jones  arranged  for  the  Tuba 
to  stand  in  the  basement  at  the  distant  end  of  the  nave.  Its 
tone  is  directed  to  a  cement  reflector  and  from  that  reflector 
is  projected  through  a  metal  grid  set  in  the  floor,  till,  striking 
the  roof  of  the  nave,  it  is  spread  and  fills  the  entire  building 
with  tone.  In  St.  Luke's  Church,  Montclair,  N.  J.,  he  adopted 
a  somewhat  similar  plan  in  connection  with  the  open  32-foot 
pedal  pipes  which  are  laid  horizontally  in  the  basement.  We 
believe  that  the  first  time  this  principle  was  employed  was  in 
the  case  of  the  organ  rebuilt  by  Hope- Jones  in  1892  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  J.  Martin  White,  Balruddery,  Dundee,  Scotland. 

OCTAVE    COUPLERS. 

In  the  days  of  mechanical  action,  couplers  of  any  kind  proved 
a  source  of  trouble  and  added  greatly  to  the  weight  of  the 
touch.  The  natural  result  was  that  anything  further  than  unison 
coupling  was  seldom  attempted. 

In  some  organs  hardly  any  couplers  at  all  were  present. 

In  Schulze's  great  and  celebrated  organ  in  Doncaster,  Eng- 
land, it  was  not  possible  to  couple  any  of  the  manuals  to  the 
pedals,  and  (if  we  remember  rightly)  there  were  only  two 
couplers  in  the  whole  instrument.  Shortly  after  the  introduc- 
tion of  pneumatic  action,  an  organ  with  an  occasional  octave 
coupler,  that  is  a  coupler  which  depressed  a  key  an  octave  higher 
or  lower  than  the  one  originally  struck,  was  sometimes  met  with. 

In  the  pioneer  organ  built  by  Hope-Jones  in  Birkenhead, 
England  (about  1887),  a  sudden  advance  was  made.  That 
organ  contains  no  less  than  19  couplers.  Not  only  did  he  pro- 
vide sub-octave  and  super-octave  couplers  freely,  but  he  even 
added  a  Swell  Sub-quint  to  Great  coupler! 

Octave   couplers   are  now   provided   by   almost   all   builders. 


*Organ  built  by  the  Ernest  M.  Skinner  Co. 


Pneumatic  and  Electro-Pneumatic  Actions  41 

Though  condemned  by  many  theorists,  there  is  no  doubt  that  in 
practice  they  greatly  add  to  the  resources  of  the  instruments  to 
which  they  are  attached.  We  know  of  small  organs  where  the 
electric  action  has  been  introduced  for  no  other  reason  than 
that  of  facilitating  the  use  of  octave  couplers,  which  are  now 
a  mere  matter  of  wiring  and  give  no  additional  weight  to 
the  touch. 

Hope-Jones  appears  to  have  led  in  adding  extra  pipes  to  the 
wind-chest,  which  were  acted  upon  by  the  top  octave  of  the 
octave  couplers,  thus  giving  the  organist  a  complete  scale  to 
the  full  extent  of  the  keyboards.  He  made  the  practice  common 
in  England,  and  the  Austin  Company  adopted  it  on  his  joining 
them  in  this  country.  The  plan  has  since  become  more  or  less 
common.  This  is  the  device  we  see  specified  in  organ  builders' 
catalogues  as  the  "extended  wind-chest,"  and  explains  why  the 
stops  have  73  pipes  to  61  notes  on  the  keyboard.  An  octave 
coupler  without  such  extension  is  incomplete  and  is  no  more 
honest  than  a  stop  which  only  goes  down  to  Tenor  C. 


CHAPTEE  V. 

STOP-KEYS. 

ON  LOOKING  at  the  console  of  a  modern  organ  the  observer  will 
be  struck  by  the  fact  that  the  familiar  draw-stop  knobs  have 
disappeared,  or,  if  they  are  still  there,  he  will  most  likely  find  in 
addition  a  row  of  ivory  tablets,  like  dominoes,  arranged  over  the 
upper  manual.  If  the  stop-knobs  are  all  gone,  he  will  find  an 
extended  row,  perhaps  two  rows 'of  these  tablets.  These  are  the 


Fig.  8.     Console,  Showing  the  Inclined  Keyboards  First  Introduced  Into 
This  Country  ~by  Robert  Hope-Jones 


Stop-Keys 


43 


stop-keys  which,  working  on  a  centre,  move  either  the  sliders 
in  the  wind-chest,  or  bring  the  various  couplers  on  manuals  and 
pedals  on  or  off. 

We  learn  from  Dr.  Bedart  that  as  early  as  1804  an  arrange- 
ment suggestive  of  the  stop-key  was  in  use  in  Avignon  Cathedral. 
William  Horatio  Clarke,  of  Eeading,  Mass.,  applied  for  a  patent 
covering  a  form  of  stop-key  in  1877.  Hope-Jones,  however, 
is  generally  credited  with  introducing  the  first  practical  stop- 
keys.  He  invented  the  forms  most  largely  used  to-day,  and  led 
their  adoption  in  England,  in  this  country,  and  indeed  through- 
out the  world. 


Fig.  9.    Console  on  the  Bennett  System,  Showing  Indicator  Ditcs 


44  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Our  illustration  (Fig.  8)  gives  a  good  idea  of  the  appearance 
of  a  modern  Hope-Jones  console.  The  stop-keys  will  be  seen 
arranged  in  an  inclined  semi-circle  overhanging  and  just  above 
the  keyboards.  Fig.  9  shows  a  console  on  the  Bennett  system. 


Fig,  10.    Console  of  Organ  in  Trinity  Church,  Boston,  Mass.     Built  by 
Hutching s  Organ  Co. 

Figs.  10  and  11,  hybrids,  the  tilting  tablet  form  of  stop-keys 
being  used  for  the  couplers  only. 

There  is  much  controversy  as  to  whether  stop-keys  will  eventu- 
ally displace  the  older  fashioned  draw-knobs. 

A  few  organists  of  eminence,  notably  Edwin  H.  Lemare,  are 
strongly  opposed  to  the  new  method  of  control,  but  the 


Stop-Keys 


45 


majority,  especially  the  rising  generation  of  organists,  warmly 
welcome  the  change.  It  is  significant  that  whereas  Hope-Jones 
was  for  years  the  only  advocate  of  the  system,  four  or  five  of 
the  builders  in  this  country,  and  a  dozen  foreign  organ-builders, 
are  now  supplying  stop-keys  either  exclusively  or  for  a  consider- 
able number  of  their  organs.  Austin,  Skinner,  Norman  &  Beard, 
Ingram  and  others  use  the  Hope-Jones  pattern,  but  Haskell, 


Fig.   11. 


Console  of  Organ  in  College  of  City  of  New  York. 
The  E.  M.  Skinner  Co. 


Built  ly 


46  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Bennett,  Hele  and  others  have  patterns  of  their  own.  It  is  a 
matter  of  regret  that  some  one  pattern  has  not  heen  agreed  on  by 
all  the  builders  concerned.* 

CONTROL  OF  THE  STOPS. 

In  older  days  all  stop-keys  were  moved  by  hand,  and  as  a 
natural  consequence  few  changes  in  registration  could  be  made 
during  performance. 

Pedals  for  throwing  out  various  combinations  of  stops  were 
introduced  into  organs  about  1809;  it  is  generally  believed  that 
J.  C.  Bishop  was  the  inventor  of  this  contrivance. 

Willis  introduced  into  his  organs  pneumatic  thumb-pistons 
about  the  year  1851.  These  pistons  were  placed  below  the  key- 
board whose  stops  they  affected. 

T.  C.  Lewis,  of  England,  later  introduced  short  key-touches 
arranged  above  the  rear  end  of  the  keys  of  the  manual.  De- 
pression of  these  key-touches  brought  different  combinations  of 
stops  into  use  on  the  keyboard  above  which  they  were  placed. 
Somewhat  similar  key-touches  were  used  by  the  Hope- Jones 
Organ  Co.  and  by  the  Austin  Organ  Co. 

Metal  buttons  or  pistons  located  on  the  toe  piece  of  the  pedal- 
board  were  introduced  by  the  ingenious  Casavant  of  Canada. 
They  are  now  fitted  by  various  builders  and  appear  likely  to  be 
generally  adopted.  These  toe-pistons  form  an  additional  and 
most  convenient  means  for  bringing  the  stops  into  and  out  of 
action. 

At  first  these  various  contrivances  operated  only  such  com- 
binations as  were  arranged  by  the  builder  beforehand,  but  now 
it  is  the  custom  to  provide  means  by  which  the  organist  can  so 
alter  and  arrange  matters  that  any  combination  piston  or  com- 

*Organists  find,  after  using  them  a  short  time,  that  a  row  of  stop-keys 
over  the  manuals  is  wonderfully  easy  to  control.  It  is  possible  to  slide 
the  finger  along,  and  with  one  sweep  either  bring  on  or  shut  off  the  whole 
organ. 


Stop-Keys  47 

bination  key  shall  bring  out  and  take  in  any  selection  of  stops 
that  he  may  desire.  Hilborne  Boosevelt,  of  New  York,  was  the 
first  to  introduce  these  adjustable  combination  movements. 

The  introduction  of  the  above  means  of  rapidly  shifting  the 
stops  in  an  organ  has  revolutionized  organ-playing,  and  has 
rendered  possible  the  performance  of  the  orchestral  transcrip- 
tions that  we  now  so  often  hear  at  organ  recitals. 

In  order  to  economize  in  cost  of  manufacture,  certain  of  the 
organ-builders,  chiefly  in  America  and  in  Germany,  have  adopted 
the  pernicious  practice  of  making  the  combination  pedals,  pis- 
tons or  keys  bring  the  various  ranks  of  pipes  into  or  out  of 
action  without  moving  the  stop-knobs. 

This  unfortunate  plan  either  requires  the  organist  to  remem- 
ber which  combination  of  stops  he  last  brought  into  operation 
on  each  keyboard,  or  else  necessitates  the  introduction  of  some 
indicator  displaying  a  record  of  the  pistons  that  he  last  touched. 
In  the  organ  in  the  Memorial  Church  of  the  1st  Emperor 
William  in  Berlin,  the  builder  introduced  a  series  of  electric 
lights  for  this  purpose.  This  device  can  be  seen  in  use  in  this 
country. 

When  this  plan  is  adopted  the  player  is  compelled  to  preserve 
a  mental  image  of  the  combinations  set  on  every  piston  or  pedal 
in  the  organ  and  identify  them  instantly  by  the  numbers  shown 
on  the  indicator — an  impossibility  in  the  case  of  adjustable 
combinations  often  changed — impracticable  in  any  case. 

Almost  all  the  greatest  organists  agree  in  condemning  the 
system  of  non-moving  stop-knobs,  and  we  trust  and  believe  that 
it  will  soon  be  finally  abandoned. 


-.  • 


CHAPTER  VI. 
RADIATING  AND  CONCAVE  PEDAL  BOAKDS. 

PEDAL  BOARDS  had  always  been  made  flat  with  straight  keys 
until  Willis  and  the  great  organist,  Dr.  S.  S.  Wesley,  devised 
the  radiating  and  concave  board  whereby  all  the  pedal  keys  were 
brought  within  equal  distance  of  the  player's  feet.  This  was 
introduced  in  the  organ  in  St.  George's  Hall,  Liverpool,  in  1855, 
and  Willis  has  refused  to  supply  any  other  type  of  board  with 
his  organs  ever  since.  Curiously  enough,  the  advantages  of  this 
board  were  not  appreciated  by  many  players  who  preferred  the 
old  type  of  board  and  at  a  conference  called  by  the  Royal  College 
of  Organists  in  1890  it  was  decided  to  officially  recommend  a 
board  which  was  concave,  but  had  parallel  keys.  The  fol- 
lowing letter  to  the  author  shows  that  the  R.  C.  0.  has  experi- 
enced a  change  of  heart  in  this  matter: 

THE  ROYAL  COLLEGE  OF  ORGANISTS. 

LONDON,  S.  W.,  27th  May,  1909. 

Dear  Sir :  In  answer  to  your  inquiry  the  Resolutions  and  Recom- 
mendations to  which  you  refer  were  withdrawn  by  my  Council  some 
years  ago.  No  official  recommendation  is  made  by  them  now.  It  is 
stated  in  our  Calendar  that  the  Council  wish  it  understood  that  the 
arrangements  and  measurements  of  the  College  organ  are  not  intended 
to  be  accepted  as  authoritative  or  final  suggestions.  I  am, 

Yours  faithfully, 

THOMAS  SHINDLER, 

Registrar. 

The  radiating  and  concave  board  has  been  adopted  by  the 
American  Guild  of  Organists  and  has  long  been  considered  the 
standard  for  the  best  organs  built  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada,  It  is  self-evident  that  this  board  is  more  expensive  to 
construct  than  the  other.  That  is  why  we  do  not  find  it  in  low- 
priced  organs. 


Radiating  and  Concave  Pedal  Boards  49 

In  most  American  organs  built  twenty  years  ago,  the  compass 
of  the  pedal  board  was  only  two  octaves  and  two  notes,  from 
CCC  to  D.  Sometimes  two  octaves  only,  Later  it  was  ex- 
tended to  F,  30  notes,  which  is  the  compass  generally  found  in 
England.  Following  Hope- Jones'  lead,  all  the  best  builders 
have  now  extended  their  boards  to  g,  32  notes,  this  range  being 
called  for  by  some  of  Bach's  organ  music  and  certain  pieces  of 
the  French  school  where  a  melody  is  played  by  the  right  foot 
;in(l  the  bass  by  the  left.  The  chief  reason  is  that  g  is  the  top 
note  of  the  string  bass,  and  is  called  for  in  orchestral  transcrip- 
tions. Henry  Willis  &  Sons  have  also  extended  the  pedal 
compass  to  g  in  rebuilding  the  St.  George's  Hall  organ  in 
1898. 

PEDAL  STOP  CONTROL. 

For  a  long  time  no  means  whatever  of  controlling  the  Pedal 
stops  and  couplers  was  provided,  but  in  course  of  time  it  be- 
came the  fashion  to  cause  the  combination  pedals  or  pistons  on 
the  Great  organ  (and  subsequently  on  the  other  departments 
also)  to  move  the  Pedal  stops  and  couplers  so  as  to  provide  a 
bass  suited  to  the  particular  combination  of  stops  in  use  on  the 
manual.  This  was  a  crude  arrangement  and  often  proved  more 
of  a  hindrance  than  of  a  help  to  the  player.  Unfortunately, 
unprogressive  builders  are  still  adhering  to  this  inartistic  plan, 
it  frequently  leads  to  a  player  upsetting  his  Pedal  combination 
when  he  has  no  desire  to  do  so.  It  becomes  impossible  to  use 
the  combination  pedals  without  disturbing  the  stops  and  coup- 
lers of  the  Pedal  department. 

The  great  English  organist,  W.  T.  Best,  in  speaking  of  this, 
instanced  a  well-known  organ  piece,  Rinck's  "Flute  Concerto," 
which  called  for  quick  changes  from  the  Swell  to  the  Great  or- 
gan and  vice  versa,  and  said  that  he  knew  of  no  instrument  in 
existence  on  which  it  could  be  properly  played.  An  attempt 
had  been  made  on  the  Continent  to  overcome  this  difficulty  by 


50  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

the  use  of  two  pedal-boards,  placed  at  an  angle  to  each  other, 
but  it  did  not  meet  with  success. 

The  Hope- Jones  plan  (patented  1889)  of  providing  the  com- 
bination pedals  or  pistons  with  a  double  touch  was  a  distinct 
step  in  advance  for  it  enabled  the  organist  by  means  of  a  light 
touch  to  move  only  the  manual  registers  and  by  means  of  a  very 
much  heavier  touch  on  the  combination  pedal  or  piston  to  operate 
also  his  Pedal  stops  and  couplers.  Most  large  organs  now  built 
are  furnished  with  a  pedal  for  reversing  the  position  of  the 
Great  to  Pedal  coupler.  Though  to  a  certain  extent  useful  when 
no  better  means  of  control  is  provided,  this  is  but  a  makeshift. 

Thomas  Casson,  of  Denbigh,  Wales,  introduced  an  artistic, 
though  somewhat  cumbersome,  arrangement.  He  duplicated 
the  draw-knobs  controlling  the  Pedal  stops  and  couplers  and 
located  one  set  of  these  with  the  Great  organ  stops,  another  set 
with  the  Swell  organ  stops  and  a  third  with  the  Choir.  He 
placed  in  the  key  slip  below  each  manual  what  he  called  a  "Pedal 
Help."  When  playing  on  the  Great  organ,  he  would,  by  touch- 
ing the  "Pedal  Help,"  switch  into  action  the  group  of  Pedal 
stops  and  coupler  knobs  located  in  the  Great  department,  switch- 
ing out  of  action  all  the  other  groups  of  Pedal  stops  and  couplers. 
Upon  touching  the  "Pedal  Help"  under  the  Swell  organ  keys, 
the  Great  organ  group  of  Pedal  stops  and  couplers  would  be 
rendered  inoperative  and  the  Swell  group  would  be  brought  into 
action.  By  this  means  it  was  easy  to  prepare  in  advance  groups 
of  Pedal  stops  and  couplers  suited  to  the  combination  of  stops 
sounding  upon  each  manual  and  by  touching  a  Pedal  Help,  to 
call  the  right  group  of  Pedal  stops  into  action  at  any  moment. 
The  combination  pedals  affecting  the  Great  stop-knobs  moved 
also  the  Pedal  stop-knobs  belonging  to  the  proper  group.  The 
Swell  and  Choir  groups  were  similarly  treated. 

But  the  simplest  and  best  means  of  helping  the  organist  to 
control  his  Pedal  department  is  the  automatic  "Suitable  Bass" 
arrangement  patented  by  Hope- Jones  in  1891  and  subsequently. 


Radiating  and  Concave  Pedal  Boards  51 

According  to  his  plan  a  "Suitable  Bass"  tablet  is  provided  just 
above  the  rear  end  of  the  black  keys  on  each  manual. 

Each  of  these  tablets  has  a  double  touch.  On  pressing  it 
with  ordinary  force  it  moves  the  Pedal  stop  keys  and  couplers, 
so  as  to  provide  an  appropriate  bass  to  the  combination  of  stops 
in  use  on  that  manual  at  the  moment.  On  pressing  it  with 
much  greater  force  it  becomes  locked  down  and  remains  in  that 
position  until  released  by  the  depression  of  the  suitable  bass 
tablet  belonging  to  another  manual,  or  by  touching  any  of  the 
Pedal  stop-knobs  or  stop-keys. 

When  the  suitable  bass  tablet  belonging  to  any  manual  is 
thus  locked  down,  the  stops  and  couplers  of  the  Pedal  depart- 
ment will  automatically  move  so  as  to  provide  at  all  times  a 
bass  that  is  suitable  to  the  combination  of  stops  and  couplers 
in  use  upon  that  particular  manual. 

On  touching  the  suitable  bass  tablet'  belonging  to  any  other 
manual  with  extra  pressure,  the  tablet  formerly  touched  will  be 
released  and  the  latter  will  become  locked  down.  The  Pedal 
stops  and  couplers  will  now  group  themselves  so  as  to  provide 
a  suitable  bass  to  the  stops  in  use  on  the  latter-named  manual, 
and  will  continue  so  to  do  until  this  suitable  bass  tablet  is  in 
turn  released. 

This  automatic  suitable  bass  device  does  not  interfere  with  the 
normal  use  of  the  stop-keys  of  the  pedal  department  by  hand. 
Directly  any  one  of  these  be  touched,  the  suitable  bass  mechan- 
ism is  automatically  thrown  out  of  action. 

The  combination  pedals  and  pistons  are  all  provided  with 
double  touch.  Upon  using  them  in  the  ordinary  way  the  man- 
ual stops  alone  are  affected.  If,  however,  considerable  extra 
pressure,  be  brought  to  bear  upon  them  the  appropriate  suitable 
bass  tablet  is  thereby  momentarily  depressed  and  liberated— 
by  this  means  providing  a  suitable  bass.  In  large  organs  two 
or  three  adjustable  toe  pistons  are  also  provided  to  give  inde- 
pendent control  of  the  Pedal  organ.  On  touching  any  of  these 


52  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

toe  pistons  all  suitable  bass  tablets  are  released,  and  any  selec- 
tion of  Pedal  stops  and  couplers  that  the  organist  may  have 
arranged  on  the  toe  piston  operated  is  brought  into  use.  The 
Hope-Jones  plan  seems  to  leave  little  room  for  improvement. 
It  has  been  spoken  of  as  "the  greatest  assistance  to  the  organist 
since  the  invention  of  combination  pedals."* 

Compton,  of  Nottingham,  Englandf  (a  progressive  and  artis- 
tic builder),  already  fits  a  suitable  bass  attachment  to  his  organs 
and  it  would  seem  likely  that  before  long  this  system  must  be- 
come universally  adopted. 


*Mark  Andrews,  Associate  of  the  Royal  College  of  Organists,  England. 
President  of  the  National  Association  of  Organists  and  Sub- Warden  of 
the  American  Guild  of  Organists. 

fMr.  R.  P.  Elliott,  organizer  and  late  Yice-President  of  the  Austin 
Co.,  said  on  his  last  return  from  England  that  Compton  was  at  that  time 
doing  the  most  artistic  work  of  any  organ-builder  in  that  country.  He 
is  working  to  a  great  extent  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Hope-Jones,  and 
has  the  benefit  of  the  advice  and  assistance  of  that  well-known  patron  of 
the  art,  Mr.  J.  Martin  White.  His  business  has  lately  been  reorganized 
under  the  title  of  John  Compton,  Ltd.,  in  which  company  Mr.  White  is 
a  large  shareholder. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

MEANS  OF  OBTAINING  EXPRESSION. 
CRESCENDO  PEDAL. 

To  MOST  organs  in  this  country,  to  many  in  Germany,  and  to  a 
few  in  other  countries,  there  is  attached  a  balanced  shoe  pedal 
by  movement  of  which  the  various  stops  and  couplers  in  the 
organ  are  brought  into  action  in  due  sequence.  By  this  means 
an  organist  is  enabled  to  build  up  the  tone  of  his  organ  from 
the  softest  to  the  loudest  without  having  to  touch  a  single  stop- 
knob,  coupler  or  combination  piston.  The  crescendo  pedal,  as  it 
is  called,  is  little  used  in  England.  It  is  the  fashion  there  to 
regard  it  merely  as  a  device  to  help  an  incompetent  organist. 
It  is  contended  that  a  crescendo  pedal  is  most  inartistic,  as  it 
is  certain  to  be  throwing  on  or  taking  off  stops  in  the  middle, 
instead  of  at  the  beginning  or  end  of  a  musical  phrase.  In  spite 
of  this  acknowledged  defect,  many  of  the  best  players  in  this 
country  regard  it  as  a  legitimate  and  helpful  device. 

We  believe  the  first  balanced  crescendo  pedal  in  this  country 
was  put  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church  organ  at  Syracuse, 
N.  Y.,  by  Steere,  the  builder  of  the  instrument. 

SFORZANDO    PEDAL — DOUBLE    TOUCH. 

Under  the  name  of  Sforzando  Coupler,  the  mechanism  of 
which  is  described  and  illustrated  in  Stainer's  Dictionary,  a  de- 
vice was  formerly  found  in  some  organs  by  which  the  keys  of 
the  Swell  were  caused  to  act  upon  the  keys  of  the  Great.  The 
coupler  being  brought  on  and  off  by  a  pedal,  sforzando  effects 
could  be  produced,  or  the  first  beat  in  each  measure  strongly 
accented  in  the  style  of  the  orchestration  of  the  great  masters. 


54  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Hope-Jones  in  his  pioneer  organ  at  St.  John's  Church,  Birken- 
head,  England.,  provided  a  pedal  which  brought  the  Tuba  on  the 
Great  organ.  The  pedal  was  thrown  back  by  a  spring  on  being 
released  from  the  pressure  of  the  foot.  Some  fine  effects  could 
be  produced  by  this,  but  of  course  the  whole  keyboard  was  af- 
fected and  only  chords  could  be  played.  Various  complicated 
devices  to  bring  out  a  melody  have  been  invented  from  time  to 
time  by  various  builders,  but  all  have  been  superseded  by  the 
invention  of  the  "Double  Touch."  On  a  keyboard  provided  with 
this  device,  extra  pressure  of  the  fingers  causes  the  keys  struck 
to  fall  an  additional  eighth  inch  (through  a  spring  giving  way), 
bringing  the  stops  drawn  on  another  manual  into  play.  If  play- 
ing on  the  Swell  organ,  the  Choir  stops  will  sound  as  well  when 
the  keys  are  struck  with  extra  firmness ;  if  playing  on  the  Choir 
the  Swell  stops  sound;  and  if  playing  on  the  Great  the  Double 
Touch  usually  brings  on  the  Tuba  or  Trumpet.  It  is  thus  pos- 
sible to  play  a  hymn  tune  in  four  parts  on  the  Swell  and  bring 
out  the  melody  on  the  Choir  Clarinet ;  to  play  on  the  Choir  and 
bring  out  the  melody  on  the  Swell  Vox  Humana  or  Cornopean; 
or  to  play  a  fugue  with  the  full  power  of  the  Great  organ  (ex- 
cept the  Trumpet)  and  bring  out  the  subject  of  the  fugue  every 
time  it  enters,  whether  in  the  soprano  voice,  the  alto,  tenor, 
or  bass. 

In  the  latest  Hope-Jones  organs  arrangements  are  made  for 
drawing  many  of  the  individual  stops  on  the  second  touch,  inde- 
pendently of  the  couplers. 

BALANCED  SWELL  PEDAL 

At  the  commencement  of  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating 
(some  fifty  years  ago)  the  Swell  shutters  of  almost  all  organs 
were  made  to  fall  shut  of  their  own  weight,  or  by  means  of  a 
spring.  The  organist  might  leave  his  Swell-box  shut  or,  by 
means  of  a  catch  on  the  pedal,  hitch  it  full  open. 

When,  however,  he  wanted  the  shutters  in  any .  intermediate 


Means  of  Obtaining  Expression  55 

position,  he  had  to  keep  his  foot  on  the  pedal  in  order  to  pre- 
vent its  closing. 

The  introduction  of  the  balanced  Swell  pedal  (Walcker,  1863) 
has  greatly  increased  the  tonal  resources  of  the  organ.  It  is 
used  almost  universally  in  this  country,  but  strangely  enough 
the  country  in  which  the  Swell-box  was  invented  (England, 
1712)  lags  behind,  and  even  to-day  largely  adheres  to  the  old 
forms  of  spring  pedal. 

A  further  and  great  step  in  advance  appears  in  recent  organs 
built  by  the  Hope-Jones  Organ  Company.  The  position  of  the 
swell  shutters  is  brought  under  the  control  of  the  organisi^s 
fingers  as  well  as  his  feet.  Each  balanced  swell  pedal  is  pro- 
vided with  an  indicator  key  fixed  on  the  under  side  of  the  ledge 
of  the  music  desk,  where  it  is  most  conspicuous  to  the  eye  of 
the  performer.  As  the  swell  pedal  is  opened  by  the  organist's 
foot,  the  indicator  key  travels  in  a  downward  direction  to  the 
extent  of  perhaps  one  inch  and  a  quarter.  As  the  organist  closes 
his  pedal,  the  indicator  key  again  moves  upward  into  its  normal 
position.  By  means  of  this  visible  indicator  key  the  organist 
is  always  aware  of  the  position  of  the  swell  shutters.  Through 
electric  mechanism  the  indicator  key  is  so  connected  with  the 
swell  pedal  that  the  slightest  urging  of  the  key  either  up- 
ward or  downward  by  the  finger -will  shift  the  swell  pedal  and 
cause  it  to  close  or  open  as  may  be  desired  and  to  the  desired 
extent.  When  an  organ  possesses  four  or  five  swell  boxes,  and 
when  these  swell  boxes  (as  in  the  case  of  Hope- Jones'  organs) 
modify  the  tone  by  many  hundred  per  cent.,  it  becomes  highly 
important  that  the  organist  shall  at  all  times  have  complete  and 
instant  control  of  the  swell  shutters  and  shall  be  conscious  of 
their  position  without  having  to  look  below  the  keyboards.  Hope- 
Jones  also  provides  what  he  calls  a  general  swell  pedal.  To  this 
general  swell  pedal  (and  its  corresponding  indicator  key)  any 
or  all  of  the  other  swell  pedals  may  be  coupled  at  will. 

Hope- Jones  has  also  recently  invented  a  means  of  controlling 


56  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

the  swell  shutters  from  the  manual  keys  to  a  sufficient  extent 
to  produce  certain  sforzando  effects. 

When  this  contrivance  is  brought  into  use  upon  any  manual 
and  when  no  ke}7s  upon  that  manual  are  being  played,  the  swell 
shutters  assume  a  position  slightly  more  open  than  normal  in 
relation  to  the  position  of  the  swell  pedal.  Directly  any  key 
upon  the  manual  in  question  is  depressed,  the  swell  shutters 
again  resume  their  normal  position  in  relation  to  the  swell  pedal. 
This  results  in  a  certain  emphasis  or  attack  at  the  commence- 
ment of  each  phrase  or  note  that  is  akin  to  the  effect  obtained 
from  many  of  the  instruments  of  the  orchestra. 

These  contrivances  are  applicable  only  to  such  organs  as  have 
the  balanced  swell  pedal. 

SWELL  BOXES. 

The  invention  of  the  Swell  is  generally  attributed  to  Abraham 
Jordan.  He  exhibited  what  was  known  as  the  nag's  head  Swell 
in  St.  Magnus'  Church,  London,  England,  in  the  year  1731. 

The  "nag's  head"  Swell,  with  its  great  sliding  shutter,  rapidly 
gave  place  to  the  "Venetian"  Swell  shades,  used  almost  univer- 
sally to  this  day.  At  the  beginning  of  the  period  under  con- 
sideration Swell  boxes  were  almost  invariably  made  of  thin 
boards  and  their  effect  upon  the  strength  of  the  tone  was  small. 
Willis  was  one  of  the  first  to  realize  the  artistic  possibilities  of 
the  Swell  organ  and  in  almost  all  his  organs  we  find  thick 
wooden  boxes  and  carefully  fitted  shutters,  and  often  an  inner 
swell  box  containing  the  delicate  reeds,  such  as  the  Vox  Hu- 
mana and  Oboe. 

Many  of  the  leading  organ  builders  now  employ  this  thicker 
construction,  and  it  is  no  uncommon  thing  to  find  Swell  boxes 
measuring  three  inches  in  thickness  and  "deadened"  with  saw- 
dust or  shavings  between  the  layers  of  wood  of  which  they  are 
formed. 

A  few  organs  of  Hutchings  and  other  makers  are  provided 


Means  of  Obtaining  Expression  57 

with  a  double  set  of  shutters,  so.  that  sound  waves  escaping 
through  the  first  set  are  largely  arrested  by  the  second.  The 
crescendo  and  diminuendo  are  thus  somewhat  improved. 

By  the  adoption  of  scientific  principles  Hope-Jones  has  mul- 
tiplied the  efficiency  of  Swell  boxes  tenfold.  He  points  out  that 
wood,  hitherto  used  in  their  construction,  is  one  of  the  best 
known  conductors  of  sound  and  should,  therefore,  not  be  em- 
ployed. The  effects  produced  by  his  brick,  stone  and  cement 
boxes  (Worcester  Cathedral,  England;  McEwan  Hall,  Edin- 
burgh, Scotland,  Ocean  Grove,  New  Jersey,  etc.)  mark  the  dawn 
of  a  new  era  in  Swell-box  construction  and  effect.  It  is  now 
possible  to  produce  by  means  of  scientific  Swell  boxes  an  in- 
crease or  diminution  of  tone  amounting  to  many  hundred  per 
cent. 

We  have  heard  the  great  Tuba  at  Ocean  Grove,  on  50-inch 
wind  pressure,  so  reduced  in  strength  that  it  formed  an  effective 
accompaniment  to  the  tones  of  a  single  voice. 

The  Hope-Jones  method  seems  to  be  to  construct  the  box  and 
its  shutters  (in  laminated  form)  of  brick,  cement  or  other  inert 
and  non-porous  material,  and  to  substitute  for  the  felt  usually 
employed  at  the  jofjfits  his  patented  "sound  trap."  This  latter 
is  so  interesting  arid  of  such  import  in  the  history  of  organ 
building  that  we  append,  on  the  next  page,  illustrations  and 
descriptions  of  the  4?vice. 

If  a  man  should  stand  at  one  end  of  the  closed  passage  (C) 
he  will  be  able  to  converse  with  a  friend  at  the  other  end  of  the 
passage  (D).  Tne  passage  will  in  fact  act  as  a  large  speaking 
tube  and  a  conversation  can  be  carried  on  between  the  two  indi- 
viduals, even  in  whispers  (Figure  12). 

This  passage  is  analogous  to  the  opening  or  nick  between 
Swell  shutters  of  the  ordinary  type. 

If  a  man  should  stand  in  room  1  at  A,  he  will  be  able  to  see 
a  friend  standing  in  room  4  at  B,  but  the  two  friends  will  not 
be  able  to  converse.  When  A  speaks,  the  sound  waves  that  he 


58 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


produces  will  spread  out  and  will  fill  room  1.  A  very  small  per- 
centage of  them  will  strike  the  doorway  or  opening  into  room 
2.  In  their  turn  these  sound  waves  will  be  diffused  all  through 


Fig.  12.    The  Principle  of  the  Sound  Trap 


room  2,  and  again  but  a  small  percentage  of  them  will  find  access 
into  room  3.  The  sound  waves  will  by  this  time  be  so  much 
attenuated  that  the  voice  of  the  man  standing  in  room  1  will 
be  lost.  Any  little  tone,  however,  that  may  remain  will  become 


_ 

.,.,..,,„,„,,„.,  ..,....., 


Fig.  13.    Sound  Trap  Joint 

dissipated  in  room  3,  and  it  will  not  be  possible  for  a  person 
standing  in  room  4  to  hear  the  voice. 

This  plan  illustrates  the  principle  of  the  sound  trap  joint. 


Means  of  Obtaining  Expression  59 

Figure  13  shows  in  section  the  joint  between  two  Swell  shut- 
ters. A  small  proportion  of  the  sound  waves  from  inside  the 
Swell  box  striking  the  sound  trap  joint,  as  indicated  by  the 
arrow,  will  pass  through  the  nick  between  the  two  shutters,  but 
these  sound  waves  will  become  greatly  weakened  in  charging 
the  groove  A.  Such  of  the  sound  waves  as  pass  through  the 
second  nick  will  become  attenuated  in  charging  the  chamber  B. 
They  will  be  further  lost  in  the  chamber  C,  and  practically  none 
will  remain  by  the  time  the  chamber  D  is  reached. 

It  is  Hope- Jones'  habit  to  place  the  shutters  immediately 
above  the  pipes  themselves,  so  that  when  they  are  opened  the 
Swell  box  is  left  practically  without  any  top.  It  is  in  such  cases 
not  his  custom  to  fit  any  shutters  in  the  side  or  front  of  the 
Swell  box. 

To  relieve  the  compression  of  the  air  caused  by  playing  for 
any  length  of  time  with  the  shutters  closed,  he  provides  escape 
valves,  opening  outside  the  auditorium.  He  also  provides  fans 
for  driving  all  the  cold  air  out  of  the  box  before  using  the  organ, 
thus  equalizing  the  temperature  with  the  air  outside — or  he  ac- 
complishes this  result  through  the  medium  of  gas,  electric  or 
steam  heaters,  governed  by  thermostats. 

The  Hope-Jones  Vacuum  Swell  Shutters,  with  sound-trap 
joints,  are  shown  in  Figures  14  and  15. 

It  is  well  known  that  sound  requires  some  medium  to  carry 
it.  Readers  will  doubtless  be  familiar  with  the  well-known  ex- 
periment illustrating  this  point.  An  electric  bell  is  placed  under 
a  glass  dome.  So  long  as  the  dome  is  filled  with  air  the  sound 
of  the  bell  can  be  heard,  but  directly  the  air  is  pumped  out 
silence  results,  even  though  it  can  be  seen  that  the  bell  is  con- 
tinuously ringing.  As  there  is  no  air  surrounding  the  bell  there 
is  nothing  to  convey  its  vibrations  to  the  ear. 

That  is  why  the  hollow  swell  shutter,  from  the  interior  of 
which  the  air  has  been  pumped  out,  is  such  a  wonderful  non- 
conductor of  sound. 


60 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


The  shutters  shown  in  Figures  14  and  15  are  aluminum  cast- 
ings. 

Eibs  E1  and  E2  are  provided  to  support  the  flat  sides  against 
the  pressure  of  the  atmosphere,  but  each  of  these  ribs  is  so  ar- 
ranged that  it  supports  only  one  flat  side  and  does  not  form  a 
means  of  communication  between  one  flat  side  and  the  other. 
Thus  E1  supports  one  flat  side  whilst  E2  supports  the  other. 
The  aluminum  shutters  are  supported  by  means  of  pivot  P. 


Figs.  14-15.     The  Vacuum  Shutter 

They  are  very  light  and  can  therefore  be  opened  and  closed 
with  great  rapidity. 

A  very  thin  vacuum  shutter  forms  a  better  interrupter  of 
sound  waves  than  a  brick  wall  two  or  three  feet  in  thickness. 

When  partially  exhausted  the  aluminum  shutters  are  dipped 
into  a  bath  of  shellac.  This  effectually  closes  any  microscopic 
blow-hole  that  may  exist  in  the  metal. 


Means  of  Obtaining  Expression  61 

The  use  of  Swell  boxes  of  this  vastly  increased  efficiency  per- 
mits the  employment  of  larger  scales  and  heavier  pressures  for 
the  pipes  than  could  otherwise  be  used,  and  enormously  in- 
creases the  tonal  flexibility  of  the  organ. 

It  also  does  away  with  the  need  for  soft  stops  in  an  organ, 
thus  securing  considerable  economy.  Where  all  the  stops  are 
inclosed  in  cement  chambers  (as  in  the  case  of  recent  Hope- 
Jones  organs)  and  where  the  sound-trap  shutters  are  employed, 
every  stop  is  potentially  a  soft  stop. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
A  REVOLUTION  IN  WIND  SUPPLY. 

PRIOR  to  the  construction  of  the  above-named  organ  at  Birken- 
head,  England,  it  had  been  the  custom  to  obtain  or  regulate  the 
pressure  of  wind  supplied  to  the  pipes  by  means  of  loading  the 
bellows  with  weights.  Owing  to  its  inertia,  no  heavy  bellows 
weight  can  be  set  into  motion  rapidly.  When,  therefore,  a 
staccato  chord  was  struck  on  one  of  these  earlier  organs,  with 
all  its  stops  drawn,  little  or  no  response  was  obtained  from  the 
pipes,  because  the  wind-chest  was  instantly  exhausted  and  no 
time  was  allowed  for  the  inert  bellows  weights  to  fall  and  so 
force  a  fresh  supply  of  air  into  the  wind-chests. 

BELLOWS    SPRINGS    VERSUS    WEIGHTS. 

In  one  of  Hope-Jones'  earliest  patents  the  weights  indeed  re- 
main, but  they  merely  serve  to  compress  springs,  which  in  turn 
act  upon  the  top  of  the  bellows. 

Before  this  patent  was  granted  he  had,  however,  given  up 
the  use  of  weights  altogether  and  relied  entirely  upon  springs. 

This  one  detail — the  substitution  of  springs  for  weights — has 
had  a  far-reaching  effect  upon  organ  music.  It  rendered  pos- 
sible the  entire  removal  of  the  old  unsteadiness  of  wind  from 
which  all  organs  of  the  time  suffered  in  greater  or  less  degree. 
It  quickened  the  attack  of  the  action  and  the  speech  of  the  pipes 
to  an  amazing  extent  and  opened  a  new  and  wider  field  to  the 
King  of  Instruments. 

In  the  year  1894  John  Turnell  Austin,  now  of  Hartford, 
Conn.,  took  out  a  patent  for  an  arrangement,  known  as  the  "Uni- 
versal air-chest."  In  this,  the  spring  as  opposed  to  the  weight 
is  adopted.  The  Universal  air-chest  forms  a  perfect  solution 


A  lie  volution  in  Wind  Supply  63 

of  the  problem  of  supplying  prompt  and  steady  wind-pressure, 
but  as  practically  the  same  effect  is  obtained  by  the  use  of  a 
little  spring  reservoir  not  one  hundredth  part  of  its  size,  it  is 
questionable  whether  this  Universal  air-chest,  carrying,  as  it 
does,  certain  disadvantages,  will  survive. 

INDIVIDUAL  PALLETS. 

Fifty  years  ago  the  pallet  and  slider  sound-board  was  well 
nigh  universally  used,  but  several  of  the  builders  in  Germany, 
and  "Roosevelt  in  this  country,  strongly  advocated,  and  intro- 
duced, chests  having  an  independent  valve,  pallet  or  membrane, 
to  control  the  admission  of  wind  to  each  pipe  in  the  organ.* 

In  almost  all  of  these  instances  small  round  valves  were  used 
for  this  purpose. 

A  good  pallet  and  slider  chest  is  difficult  to  make,  and  those 
constructed  by  indifferent  workmen  out  of  indifferent  lumber 
will  cause  trouble  through  "running" — that  is,  leakage  of  wind 
from  one  pipe  to  another.  In  poor  chests  of  this  description  the 
slides  are  apt  to  stick  when  the  atmosphere  is  excessively  damp, 
and  to  become  too  loose  on  days  when  little  or  no  humidity  is 
present. 

Individual  pallet  chests  are  cheaper  to  make  and  they  have 
none  of  the  defects  named  above.  Most  of  these  chests,  how- 
ever, are  subject  to  troubles  of  their  own,  and  not  one  of  those 
in  which  round  valves  are  employed  permits  the  pipes  to  speak 
to  advantage. 

Willis,  Hope-Jones,  Carlton  C.  Michell  and  other  artists,  after 


*One  object  of  this  was  to  prevent  what  was  called  "robbing."  While 
the  pressure  of  the  wind  might  be  ample  and  steady  enough  with  only 
a  few  stops  drawn,  it  was  found  that  when  all  the  stops  were  drawn  the 
large  pipes  "robbed"  their  smaller  neighbors  of  their  due  supply  of  wind, 
causing  them  to  sound  flat.  By  giving  each  pipe  a  pallet  or  valve  to 
itself,  the  waste  of  wind  in  the  large  grooves  was  prevented.  Another 
object  was  to  get  rid  of  the  long  wooden  slides,  which  in  dry  weather 
were  apt  to  shrink  and  cause  leakage,  and  in  damp  weather  to  swell  and 
stick. 


64  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

lengthy  tests,  independently  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  the 
best  tonal  results  cannot  by  any  possibility  be  obtained  from 
these  cheap  forms  of  chest.  Long  pallets  and  a  large  and  steady 
body  of  air  below  each  pipe  are  deemed  essential.* 

HEAVY  WIND  PRESSURES. 

As  previously  stated,  the  vast  majority  of  organs  built  fifty 
years  ago  used  no  higher  wind  pressure  than  3  inches.  Hill,  in 
1833,  placed  a  Tuba  stop  voiced  on  about  11  inches  in  an  organ 
he  built  for  Birmingham  Town  Hall  (England),  but  the  tone 
was  so  coarse  and  blatant  that  such  stops  were  for  years  em- 
ployed only  in  the  case  of  very  large  buildings.f  Cavaille-Coll 
subsequently  utilized  slightly  increased  pressures  for  the  trebles 
of  his  flue  stops  as  well  as  for  his  larger  reeds.  As  a  pioneer  he 
did  excellent  work  in  this  direction. 

To  Willis,  however,  must  be  attributed  greater  advance  in  the 
utilization  of  heavy  pressures  for  reed  work.  He  was  the  first 
to  recognize  that  the  advantage  of  heavy  wind  pressure  for  the 
reeds  lay  not  merely  in  the  increase  of  power,  but  also  in  the 
improvement  of  the  quality  of  tone.  Willis  founded  a  new 
school  of  reed  voicing  and  exerted  an  influence  that  will  never 
die. 

In  organs  of  any  pretensions  it  became  his  custom  to  employ 


*A  striking  instance  of  the  difference  between  the  two  kinds  of  pallet 
can  be  seen  in  All  Angels'  Church,  New  York.  The  organ  was  built 
originally  by  Roosevelt,  with  two  manuals  and  his  patent  wind-chest. 
In  1896  the  church  was  enlarged  and  Jardine  removed  the  organ  to  a 
chamber  some  thirty  feet  above  the  floor  and  fitted  his  electric  action 
to  the  Roosevelt  wind-chest.  At  the  same  time  he  erected  an  entirely 
new  Choir  organ,  in  the  clerestory,  with  his  electric  action  fitted  to  long 
pallets.  The  superiority  of  attack  and  promptness  of  speech,  especially 
of  the  lower  notes,  of  the  Choir  over  the  Great  and  Swell  organs  is 
marvelous.  The  same  thing  can  be  seen  at  St.  James'  Church,  New  York, 
where  the  Roosevelt  organ  was  rebuilt  with  additions  by  the  Hope-Jones 
Organ  Co.  in  1908. 

fSome  congregations  could  not  stand  them  and  had  them  taken  out. 


.-1   Revolution   in   Wind  <S'///>/>///  Gf> 

pressures  of  8  to  10  inches  for  the  Great  and  Swell  chorus  reeds 
and  the  Solo  Tubas  in  his  larger  organs  were  voiced  on  20  or  25 
inches. 


He  introduced  the  "closed  eschallot"  (the  tube  a^ahu-'t  which 
the  tongue  beats  in  a  reed  pipe)  and  created  a  revolution  in 
reed  voicing.  He  has  had  many  imitators,  but  the  superb  ex- 
amples of  his  skill,  left  in  English  Cathedral  and  town  hall 
organs,  will  be  difficult  to  surpass. 

Prior  to  the  advent  of  Hope-  Jones  (about  the  year  1887)  no 
higher  pressure  than  25  inches  had,  we  believe,  been  employed 
in  any  organ,  and  the  vast  majority  of  instruments  were  voiced 
on  pressures  not  exceeding  3  inches.  Heavy  pressure  flue 
voicing  was  practically  unknown,  and  in  reeds  even  Willis  used 
very  moderate  pressures,  save  for  a  Tuba  in  the  case  of  really 
large  buildings. 

Hope-  Jones  showed  that  by  increasing  the  weight  of  metal, 
bellying  all  flue  pipes  in  the  centre,  leathering  their  lips,  cloth- 
ing their  flues,  and  reversing  their  languids,  he  could  obtain 
from  heavy  pressures  practically  unlimited  power  and  at  the 
same  time  actually  add  to  the  sweetness  of  tone  produced  by 
the  old,  lightly  blown  pipes.  He  used  narrow  mouths,  did  away 
with  regulation  at  the  foot  of  the  pipe,  and  utilized  the  "pneu- 
matic blow"  obtained  from  his  electric  action. 

He  also  inaugurated  "an  entirely  new  departure  in  the  science 
of  reed  voicing."* 

He  employ's  pressures  as  high  as  fifty  inches  and  never  uses 
less  than  six.  His  work  in  this  direction  has  exercised  a  pro- 
found influence  on  organ  building  throughout  the  world,  and 
leading  builders  in  all  countries  are  adopting  his  pressures  or 
are  experimenting  in  that  direction. 

Like  most  revolutionary  improvements,  the  use  of  heavy  pres- 
sures was  at  first  vigorously  opposed,  but  organists  and  acous- 


*  Wedgwood  :   "Dictionary  of  Organ  Stops,"  p.  1G7. 


6G  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

ticians  are  now  filled  with  wonder  that  the  old  low-pressure  idea 
should  have  held  sway  so  long,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  very 
heavy  wind  is  employed  for  the  production  of  the  best  tone  from 
the  human  voice  and  from  the  various  wind  instruments  of  the 
orchestra. 

Karl  Gottlieb  Weigle,  of  Stuttgart,  was  a  little  in  advance  of 
many  of  his  confreres  in  using  moderately  heavy  pressures,  but 
he  departed  from  the  leather  lip  and  narrow  mouth  used  by 
Hope-Jones  and  has  obtained  power  without  refinement. 

In  employing  these  heavy  pressures  of  wind,  increased  purity 
and  beauty  of  tone  should  alone  be  aimed  at.  Power  will  take 
care  of  itself. 

MECHANICAL  BLOWERS. 

The  "organ  beater"  of  bygone  days  was  invariably  accom- 
panied by  the  "organ  pumper,"  often  by  several  of  them.  There 
is  a  well-known  story  of  how  the  man  refused  to  blow  any  longer 
unless  the  organist  said  that  efwe  had  done  very  well  to-day." 
The  organ  pumper's  vocation  is  now  almost  entirely  gone,  espe- 
cially in  this  country,  although  we  know  of  organs  in  England 
which  require  four  men  "to  blow  the  same"  unto  this  day. 

When  Willis  built  the  great  organ  in  St.  George's  Hall,  Liver- 
pool, in  1855,  he  installed  an  eight-horsepower  steam  engine  to 
provide  the  wind  supply.  There  is  a  six-horse  steam  engine  in 
use  in  Chester  Cathedral  (installed  1876). 

Gas  and  petrol  (gasoline)  engines  have  been  used  extensively 
in  England,  providing  a  cheaper,  but,  with  feeders,  a  less  con- 
trollable, prime  mover.  By  far  the  commonest  source  of  power 
has  been  the  water  motor,  as  it  was  economical  and  readily  gov- 
erned, and  as  water  pressure  was  generally  available,  but  the 
decline  of  the  old-time  bellows,  with  the  fact  that  many  cities 
to-day  refuse  to  permit  motors  to  be  operated  from  the  water 
mains,  have  given  the  field  practically  to  the  electric  motor,  now 
generally  used  in  connection  with  some  form  of  rotary  fans. 


A  Revolution  in  Wind  Supply  67 

The  principle  of  fans  in  series,  first  introduced  by  Cousans,  of 
Lincoln,  England,  under  the  name  of  the  Kinetic  Blower,  is  now 
accepted  as  standard.  This  consists  of  a  number  of  cleverly 
designed  fans  mounted  in  series  on  one  shaft,  the  first  delivering 
air  to  the  second  at,  say,  3-inch  pressure,  to  be  raised  another 
step  and  delivered  to  the  next  in  series,  etc.,  etc.  This  plan  per- 
mits tapping  off  desired  amounts  of  air  at  intermediate  pressures 
with  marked  economy,  and  as  it  is  slow  speed,  and  generally 
direct  connected  with  its  motor  on  the  same  shaft,  it  is  both 
quiet  and  mechanically  efficient. 


CHAPTEB  IX. 

TRANSFERENCE  OF  STOPS. 

AT  THE  commencement  of  the  period  of  which  we  are  treating, 
the  stops  belonging  to  the  Swell  organ  could  he  drawn  on  that 
keyboard  only ;  similarly  the  stops  «n  the  Great,  Choir  and  Pedal 
organs  could  be  drawn  only  on  their  respective  keyboards.  It 
is  now  becoming  more  and  more  common  to  arrange  for  the 
transference  of  stops  from  one  keyboard  to  another. 

If  this  plan  be  resorted  to  as  an  effort  to  make  an  insufficient 
number  of  stops  suffice  for  a  large  building,  it  is  bound  to  end 
in  disappointment  and  cannot  be  too  strongly  condemned.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  an  organ-builder  first  provides  a  number  of 
stops  that  furnish  sufficient  variety  of  tonal  quality  and  volume 
that  is  ample  for  the  building  in  which  the  instrument  is  sit- 
uated, and  then  arranges  for  the  transference  of  a  number  of 
the  stops  to  other  manuals  than  their  own,  he  will  be  adding 
to  the  tonal  resources  of  the  instrument  in  a  way  that  is  worthy 
of  commendation.  Many  organs  now  constructed  have  their 
tonal  effects  more  than  doubled  through  adoption  of  this 
principle. 

It  is  difficult  to  say  who  first  conceived  the  idea  of  transference 
of  stops,  but  authentic  instances  occurring  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury can  be  pointed  out.  During  the  last  fifty  years  many 
builders  have  done  work  in  this  direction,  but  without  question 
the  leadership  in  the  movement  must  be  attributed  to  Hope- 
Jones.  While  others  may  have  suggested  the  same  thing,  he  has 
worked  the  s}^stem  out  practically  in  a  hundred  instances,  and 
lias  forced  upon  the  attention  of  the  organ  world  the  artistic 
advantages  of  the  plan. 

His  scheme  of  treating  the  organ  as  a  single  unit  and  render- 


Transference  of  Stops  09 

ing  it  possible  to  draw  any  of  the  stops  on  any  of  the  keyboards 
at  any  (reasonable)  pitch,  was  unfolded  before  the  members  of 
the  Royal  College  of  Organists  in  London  at  a  lecture  he  de- 
livered on  May  5,  1891. 

When  adopting  this  system  in  part,  he  would  speak  of  "uni- 
fying" this,  that  or  the  other  stop,  and  this  somewhat  inapt 
phrase  has  now  been  adopted  by  other  builders  and  threatens  to 
become  general. 

Extraordinary  claims  of  expressiveness,  flexibility  and  artistic 
balance  are  made  by  those  who  preside  at  "unit  (Hope-Jones) 
organs,"  but  this  style  of  instrument  is  revolutionary  and  has 
many  opponents.  Few,  however,  can  now  be  found  who  do  not 
advocate  utilization  of  the  principle  to  a  greater  or  less  degree 
in  every  organ.  For  instance,  who  has  not  longed  at  times  that 
the  Swell  Bourdon  could  be  played  by  the  pedals?  Or  that  the 
Choir  Clarinet  were  also  in  the  Swell? 

Compton,  of  Nottingham,  England,  employs  this  plan  of  stop 
extension  and  transference,  or  unifying  of  stops,  in  all  the  or- 
gans he  builds. 

As  additional  methods  facilitating  in  some  cases  the  transfer 
of  stops  must  be  named  the  "double  touch"  and  the  "pizzicato 
touch."  The  former,  though  practically  introduced  by  Hope- 
Jones  and.  found  in  most  of  his  organs  built  during  the  last 
fifteen  years,  was,  we  believe,  invented  by  a  Frenchman  and 
applied  to  reed  organs.  The  pizzicato  touch  is  a  Hope-Jones 
invention  which,  though  publicly  introduced  nearly  twenty  years 
since,  did  not  meet  with  the  recognition  it  deserved  until  re- 
cently. The  earliest  example  of  this  touch  in  the  United  States 
is  found  in  the  organ  at  Hanson  Place  Baptist  Church,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  1909. 

Tn  the  French  Mustel  reed  organ  the  first  touch  is  operated 
by  depressing  the  keys  about  a  sixteenth  part  of  an  inch.  This 
produces  a  soft  sound.  A  louder  and  different  tone  is  elicited 
upon  pushing  the  key  further  down.  In  the  pipe  organ  the 


70  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

double  touch  is  differently  arranged.  The  first  touch  is  the  ordi- 
nary'touch.  Upon  exerting  a  much  heavier  pressure  upon  the 
key  it  will  suddenly  fall  into  the  second  touch  (about  one-eighth 
of  an  inch  deep)  and  will  then  cause  an  augmentation  of  the 
tone  by  making  other  pipes  speak.  The  device  is  generally  em- 
ployed in  connection  with  the  couplers  and  can  be  brought  into 
or  out  of  action  at  the  will  of  the  organist.  For  instance,  if  the 
performer  be  playing  upon  his  Choir  Organ  Flute  and  draws  the 
Oboe  stop  on  the  Swell  organ,  he  can  (provided  the  double-touch 
action  be  drawn),  by  pressing  any  key  or  keys  more  firmly,  cause 
those  particular  notes  to  speak  on  the  Oboe,  while  the  keys  that 
he  is  pressing  in  the  ordinary  way  will  sound  only  the  Flute. 

The  pizzicato  touch  is  also  used  mostly  in  connection  with  the 
couplers.  When  playing  upon  a  soft  combination  on  the  Great, 
the  organist  may  draw  the  Swell  to  Great  "pizzicato"  coupler. 
Whenever  now  he  depresses  a  Great  key  the  Swell  key  will  (in 
effect)  descend  with  it,  but  will  be  instantly  liberated  again, 
even  though-  the  organist  continue  to  hold  his  Great  key.  By 
means  of  this  pizzicato  touch  (now  being  fitted  to  all  Hope- 
Jones  organs  built  in  this  country)  a  great  variety  of  charming 
musical  effects  can  be  produced. 

THE   UXIT    ORGAN. 

The  Unit  organ  in  its  entirety  consists  of  a  single  instrument 
divided  into  five  tonal  families,  each  family  being  placed  in  its 
own  independent  Swell  box.  The  families  are  as  follows: 
"Foundation" — this  contains  the  Diapasons,  Diaphones,  Tibias, 
etc.;  "woodwind" — this  contains  Flutes,  Oboes,  Clarinets,  etc.; 
"strings" — this  contains  the  Gambas,  Viols  d'  Orchestre,  Dulci- 
anas,  etc. ;  "brass" — this  contains  the  Trumpets,  Cornopeans  and 
Tubas ;  "percussion" — this  contains  the  Tympani,  Gongs,  Chimes, 
Glockenspiel,  etc. 

On  each  of  the  keyboards  any  of  the  stops,  from  the  "founda- 
tion" group,  the  "woodwind"  group,  the  "string"  group,  the 


Transference  of  Stops  71 

ubrass"  group  and  the  "percussion"  group,  may  be  drawn,  and 
they  may  be  drawn  at  16  feet,  at  8  feet,  and,  in  some  instances, 
at  4  feet,  at  2  feet,  at  twelfth  and  at  tierce  pitches. 

Arranged  in  this  way  an  organ  becomes  an  entirely  different 
instrument.  It  is  very  flexible,  for  not  only  can  the  tones  be 
altered  by  drawing  the  various  stops  at  different  pitches,  but  the 
various  groiips  may  be  altered  in  power  of  tone  independently  of 
each  other.  At  one  moment  the  foundation  tone  may  entirely 
dominate,  by  moving  the  swell  pedals  the  strings  may  be  made 
to  come  to  the  front  while  the  foundation  tone  disappears;  then 
again  the  woodwind  asserts  itself  whilst  the  string  tone  is  mod- 
erated, till  the  opening  of  the  box  containing  the  brass  allows 
that  element  to  dominate.  The  variety  of  the  tonal  combinations 
is  practically  endless. 

The  adoption  of  this  principle  also  saves  needless  duplication 
of  stops.  In  the  organ  at  St.  George's  Hall,  England,  there  are 
on  the  manuals  5  Open  Diapasons,  4  Principals,  5  Fifteenths, 
3  Clarinets,  2  Orchestral  Oboes,  3  Trumpets,  3  Ophicleides,  3 
Trombas,  6  Clarions,  4  Flutes,  etc.,  etc.  In  the  Hope-Jones 
Unit  organ  at  Ocean  Grove  effects  equal  to  the  above  are  ob- 
tained from  only  6  stops.  The  organist  of  Touro  Synagogue, 
New  Orleans,  has  expressed  the  opinion  that  his  ten-stop  Unit 
organ  is  equal  to  an  ordinary  instrument  with  sixty  stops. 

SYMPATHY. 

A  strong  reason  against  the  duplication  of  pipes  of  similar 
tone  in  an  organ  is  that  curious  acoustical  phenomenon,  the  bete 
noir  of  the  organ-builder,  known  as  sympathy,  or  interference  of 
sound  waves.  When  two  pipes  of  exactly  the  same  pitch  and  scale 
are  so  placed  that  the  pulsations  of  air  from  the  one  pass  into 
the  other,  if  blown  separately  the  tone  of  each  is  clear;  blown 
together  there  is  practically  no  sound  heard,  the  waves  of  the 
one  streaming  into  the  other,  and  a  listener  hears  only  the  rush- 
ing of  the  air.  That  the  conditions  which  produce  sound  are 


72  Tlic  Recent  Revolution  in  Qryan  Building 

all  present  may  be  demonstrated  by  conveying  a  tube  from  the 
mouth  of  either  of  the  pipes  to  a  listener's  ear,  when  its  tone 
will  be  distinctly  heard.  In  other  words,  one  sound  destroys  the 
other.  Helmholtz  explains  this  phenomenon  by  saying  that 
"when  two  equal  sound  waves  are  in  opposition  the  one  nullifies 
the  effect  of  the  other  and  the  result  is  a  straight  line/'  that  is, 
no  wave,  no  sound.  "If  a  wave  crest  of  a  particular  size  and 
form  coincides  with  another  exactly  like  it,  the  result  will  be  a 
crest  double  the  height  of  each  one"  (that  is,  the  sound  will  be 
augmented).  *  *  *  "If  a  crest  coincides  with  a  trough  the 
result  will  be  that  the  one  will  unify  the  other,"  and  the  sound 
will  be  destroyed.*  That  is  why  in  the  old-style  organs  the 
builder,  when  he  used  more  than  one  Diapason,  tried  to  avoid 
this  sympathy  by  using  pipes  of  different  scale,  but  even  then 
the  results  were  seldom  satisfactory;  the  big  pipes  seemed  to 
swallow  the  little  ones.  In  the  big  organ  in  Leeds  Town  Hall, 
England,  there  was  one  pipe  in  the  Principal  which  nobody 
could  tune.  The  tuner  turned  it  every  possible  way  in  its  socket 
without  avail,  and  at  last  succeeded  by  removing  it  from  the 
socket  and  mounting  it  on  a  block  at  a  considerable  distance 
from  its  proper  place,  the  wind  being  conve}-ed  to  it  by.  a  tube. 
This  is  only  one  instance  of  what  frequently  occurred.. 

In  the  Hope-Jones  organ  the  usual  plan  of  putting  all  the 
C  pipes  on  one  side  of  the  organ  and  all  the  C#  pipes  on  the 
other,  is  departed  from.  The  pipes  are  alternated  and  in  this 
ingenious  way  sympathy  is  largely  avoided. 


*Broadhouse :  "Musical  Acoustics,"  p.  261. 


CHAPTEI?  X. 
THE  PRODUCTION  OF  ORGAN  TONE. 

\\"E  now  come  to  the  department  of  the  organ  which  will  be  of 
more  interest  to  the  listener,,  viz.,  the  various  organ  tones.  The 
general  shape  and  construction  of  the  pipes  now  in  use,  judging 
from  the  earliest  drawings  obtainable,  have  not  changed  for  hun- 
dreds of  years.  The  ancients  were  not  wanting  in  ingenuity 
and  we  have  pictures  of  many  funny-looking  pipes  which  were 
intended  to  imitate  the  growling  of  a  bear  (this  stop  was  some- 
times labeled  Vox  Humana!),  the  crowing  of  a  cock,  the  call 
of  the  cuckoo,  the  song  of  the  nightingale,  and  the  twitter  of 
the  canary,  the  ends  of  these  pipes  being  bent  over  and  inserted 
in  water,  just  as  the  player  blows  into  a  glass  of  water  through 
a  quill  in  a  toy  symphony.  Then  there  was  the  Hummel,  a 
device  which  caused  two  of  the  largest  pipes  in  the  organ  to 
sound  at  once  and  awake  those  who  snored  during  the  sermon! 
Finally  there  was  the  Fuchsschwanz.  A  stop-knob  bearing  the 
inscription,  "Xoli  me  tangerc"  (touch  me  not),  was  attached  to 
the  console.  As  a  reward  for  their  curiosity,  persons  who  were 
induced  to  touch  the  knob  thereby  set  free  the  catch  of  a  spring, 
causing  a  huge  foxtail  to  fly  into  their  faces — to  the  great  joy 
and  mirth  of  the  bystanders. 

In  order  to  understand  what  follows  we  must  make  a  short 
excursion  into  the  realm  of  acoustics.  We  have  already  remarked 
upon  the  extreme  antiquity  of  the  Flute.  The  tone  of  the  Flute 
is  produced  by  blowing  across  a  hole  pierced  in  its  side ;  in  other 
words,  l»j  a  xtreain  of  wind  striking  upon  a  cutting  edge.  It  is 
possible  to  produce  a  tone  in  this  way  by  blowing  across  the  end 
of  any  tube  made  of  any  material,  of  glass,  or  iron,  or  rubber, 
or  cane,  or  even  the  barrel  of  an  old-fashioned  door  key.  The 


74  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

primitive  Flutes  found  in  the  Egyptian  tombs  and  also  depicted 
on  the  ancient  hieroglyphics  are  made  of  reed  or  cane,  about  14 
inches  long,  possessing  the  usual  six  finger-holes.  The  top  end 
is  not  stopped  with  a  cork,  as  in  the  ordinary  Flute,  but  is 
thinned  off  to  a  feather  edge,  leaving  a  sharp  circular  ring  at 
right  angles  to  the  axis  of  the  bore.  By  blowing  across  this  ring 
a  fair  but  somewhat  feeble  Flute  tone  is  produced. 

The  six  holes  being  closed  by  the  fingers,  the  ground  tone  of 
the  tube  is  produced.  On  lifting  the  fingers  in  successive  order 
from  the  bottom  end,  we  get  the  seven  notes  of  the  major 
scale.  Closing  the  holes  again  and  blowing  harder,  we  get  the 
scale  an  octave  higher.  By  blowing  still  harder  we  get  an  octave 
higher  still.  In  other  words,  we  are  now  producing  harmonics. 

It  is  possible  to  produce  from  a  plain  tube  without  finger- 
holes  or  valves,  such  as  the  French  Horn,  by  tightening  the  lips 
and  increasing  the  pressure  of  the  player's  breath,  the  following 
series  of  harmonics : 


The  harmonics  of  a  pianoforte  string  can  be  easily  demonstrated 
by  the  following  experiment :  Depress  the  "loud"  pedal  and  strike 
any  note  in  the  bass  a  sharp  blow.  On  listening  intently,  the 
3d,  5th,  and  8th  (the  common  chord)  of  the  note  struck  will  be 
heard  sounding  all  the  way  up  for  several  octaves.  In  this  case 
the  other  strings  of  the  piano  act  as  resonators,  enabling  the  har- 
monics to  be  heard. 

Coming  back  to  our  Flute  again  and  applying  the  knowledge 
we  have  gained  to  an  organ  pipe,  we  observe : 

1.  That  the  pitch  of  the  sound  depends  on  the  length  of  the 
tube. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  75 

2.  That  the  pitch  of  the  sound  also  depends  on  the  amount 
of  wind  pressure. 

From  "this  last  will  be  seen  how  important  it  is  that  the  pres- 
sure of  £he  wind  in  an  organ  should  be  steady  and  uniform. 
Otherwise  the  pipes  will  speak  a  harmonic  instead  of  the  sound 
intended — -as,  indeed,  frequently  happens. 
?  When  a: stop  is  labeled  "8  ft.,"  that  means  that  the  bottom 
pipe,  CO  is  8  feet  long  and  the  pitch  will  be  that  of  the  key 
struck.  A-  "16-ft."  stop  will  sound  an  octave  lower;  a  "4-ft." 
stop  an  octave  higher.  These  measurements  refer  to  pipes  which 
are  open  at  the  top  and  are  only  correct  in  the  case  of  very  nar- 
row pipes,  such  as  the  stop  called  Dulciana.  Wider  pipes  do  not 
require  to  be  so  long  in  order  to  produce  8-ft.  tone. 

"If  a  tube  *  *  •*  open  at  both  ends  be  blown  across  at  one 
end,  the  fundamental  tone  of  the  tube  will  be  sounded;  but  if 
the  hand  be  placed  at  one  end  of  the  tube,  so  as  to  effectually 
close  it,  and  the  open  end  be  blown  across  as  before,  a  sound  will 
be  heard  exactly  one  octave  below  that  which  was  heard  when 
both  ends  of  the  tube  were  open.  One  of  these  pipes  was  an  open 
pipe,  the  other  a  stopped  pipe;  and  the  difference  between  the 
two  is  that  which  constitutes  the  two  great  classes  into  which  the 
flue  pipes  of  organs  are  divided/'* 

Thus  by  stopping  up  the  end  of  an  organ  pipe  we  get  8-ft. 
tone  from  a  pipe  only  4  ft.  long,  16-ft.  tone  from  a  pipe  8  ft. 
long,  and  so  on,  but  with  loss  of  power  and  volume.  The  har- 
monics produced  from  stopped  pipes  are  entirely  different  from 
those  of  the  open  ones;  their  harmonic  scale  is  produced  by  vi- 
brations which  are  as  1,  2,  3,  4,  etc.,  those  of  a  stopped  pipe  by 
vibrations  which  are  as  1,  3,  5,  7.  All  these  harmonics  are  also 
called  upper  partials. 

The  Estey  Organ  Company  claim  to  have  discovered  a  new 
principle  in  acoustics  in  their  Open  Bass  pipes,  of  which  we  show 

*Broadhouse.  J.,   "Musical  Acoustics,"  p.  27. 


7G  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


\ 


ENLARGED  VIC*  OF  TUNING  SUDC 


Fig.    10.     K. tie  if  8    Open   Ba*$   Pipes — Wood   and 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  77 

a  drawing  opposite.  This  invention  (by  William  E.  Haskell) 
enables  the  builders  to  supply  open  bass  tone  in  organ  cham- 
bers and  swell  boxes  where  there  is  not  room  for  full-length 
pipes. 

.Referring  to  the  illustration,  it  will  be  seen  that  the  pipes  are 
partly  open  and  partly  stopped,  with  a  tuning  slide  in  the  centre. 
The  builders  write  as  follows : 

"The  inserted  tube,  or  complementing  chamber,  in  the  pipe  is 
such  in  length  as  to  complete  the  full  length  of  the  pipe.  It  is, 
as  will  be  noted,  smaller  in  scale  than  the  outside  pipe.  The 
effect  is  to  produce  the  vibration  that  would  be  obtained  with  a 
full-length  pipe,  and  in  no  way  does  it  interfere  with  the  quality 
of  tone.  In  fact,  it  assists  the  pipe  materially  in  its  speech. 
This  is  most  noticeable  in  a  pipe  such  as  the  32-foot  Open  Dia- 
pason, which  when  made  full  length  is  quite  likely  to  be  slow  in 
speech.  With  this  arrangement  the  pipe  takes  its  speech  very 
readily  and  is  no  slower  in  taking  its  full  speech  than  an  ordinary 
16-foot  Open  Diapason. 

"We  have  worked  this  out  for  all  classes  of  tone — string,  flute 
and  diapason — and  the  law  holds  good  in  every  instance." 

Helmholtz  was  the  first  to  demonstrate  that  the  quality  of  all 
musical  tones  depends  entirely  upon  the  presence  or  absence  of 
their  upper  partials.  In  the  hollow  tone  of  the  Flute  they  are 
almost  entirely  absent;  in  the  clanging  tone  of  the  Trumpet 
many  of  the  higher  ones  are  present;  and  if  we  take  an  instru- 
ment like  the  Cymbals  we  get  the  whole  of  the  upper  lot  alto- 
gether. 

The  different  qualities  of  tone  of  the  organ  pipes  are  therefore 
determined:  (1)  By  the  material  of  which  the  pipes  are  made: 
(2)  by  the  shape  of  the  pipe;  (3)  by  the  amount  of  wind  pres- 
sure; (4)  by  the  shape  and  size  of  the  mouth,  the  relation  of 
the  lip  to  the  stream  of  wind  impinging  on  it  from  a  narrow 
slit,  and  the  shape  and  thickness  of  the  lip  itself.  The  manipu- 
lation of  the  mouth  and  lip  to  produce  the  tone  desired  is  called 


78  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

voicing  and  calls  for  considerable  artistic  skill.  The  writer  recol- 
lects an  instance  of  a  clever  voicer  (Gustav  Schlette)  taking  a 
new  organ  in  hand,  which  was  not  quite  satisfactory,  and  on  the 
following  Sunday  he  hardly  knew  it  again. 

Another  kind  of  harmonics  must  now  be  described,  called  com- 
binational or  Tartini  tones  (from  Tartini,  a  celebrated  Italian 
violinist  of  the  XVII  century,  who  first  described  them). 
"These  tones/'  says  Helmholtz,  "are  heard  whenever  two  musi- 
cal tones  of  different  pitches  are  sounded  together  loudly  and 
continuously."  There  is  no  necessity  for  giving  a  table  of  all  of 
their  tones  here;  we  select  the  two  most  useful.  If  two  notes  at 
an  interval  of  a  fifth  are  held  down,  a  note  one  octave  below  the 
lower  one  will  be  heard.  So  organ  builders  take  two  pipes — one 
16  feet  long  (CCC)  and  one  102/3  feet  long  (GG)— which 
make  the  interval  of  the  fifth,  and,  by  sounding  them  together, 
produce  the  tone  of  a  pipe  32  feet  long  (CCCC).  This  is  the 
stop  which  will  be  found  labeled  "32-ft.  Resultant."  Hope- 
Jones  makes  a  stop  which  he  calls  Gravissima,  64-ft.  Resultant, 
in  his  large  organs.  Many  contend  that  this  system  produces 
better  results  than  if  pipes  of  the  actual  lengths  of  32  or  64  feet 
were  employed.  Indeed,  a  pipe  64  feet  long  would  be  inaudible ; 
the  human  ear  has  its  limitations  and  refuses  to  recognize  tone 
lower  than  32  feet  (just  as  we  cannot  lift  water  by  a  suction 
pump  over  32  feet) — but,  these  great  pipes  produce  harmonics 
which  wonderfully  reinforce  the  tone  of  the  organ.  Therefore 
their  use  is  worth  while. 

The  other  combinational  tone  to  which  we  refer  is  that  pro- 
duced by  the  interval  of  a  major  third.  It  sounds  two  octaves 
below  the  lower  note.  The  writer  is  not  aware  that  this  has 
ever  been  used  as  an  organ  stop,  but  it  is  found  written  in  the 
organ  compositions  of  Guilmant  and  other  first-rate  composers. 
It  will  be  seen  that  a  skilful  organist,  with  a  knowledge  of  ihese 
tones,  can  produce  effects  from  small  organs  not  available  to  the 
ordinary  player. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  79 

Reverting  once  more  to  our  Flute,  whose  tube  is  shortened  by 
lifting  the  fingers  from  the  holes,,  it  is  not  generally  known  that 
this  can  be  done  with  an  organ  pipe;  the  writer  has  met  with 
instances  of  it  in  England.  The  two  lowest  pipes  of  the  Pedal 
Open  Diapason  were  each  made  to  give  two  notes  by  affixing  a 
pneumatic  valve  near  the  top  of  the  pipe.  When  the  valve  was 
closed  the  pipe  gave  CCC.  When  the  organist  played  CCC  sharp, 
wind  was  admitted  to  the  valve,  which  opened,  and  this  short- 
ened the  pipe.  The  device  worked  perfectly,  only  that  it  was 
not  possible  to  hold  down  both  CCC  and  CCC  sharp  and  make 
"thunder" !  The  organist  of  Chester  Cathedral  had  been  playing 
his  instrument  twice  daily  for  ten  years  before  he  found  this  out, 
and  then  he  only  discovered  it  when  the  pipes  were  taken  down 
to  be  cleaned.  It  is  an  admirable  makeshift  where  a  builder  is 
cramped  for  room. 

Organ  pipes  are  divided  into  three  families — Flues,  Reeds  and 
Diaphones.  The  flues  are  subdivided  into  Diapasons,  Flutes,  and 
Strings,  and  we  now  proceed  to  consider  each  of  these  groups 
separately. 

DIAPASONS. 

The  pipes  usually  seen  in  the  front  of  an  organ  belong  to.  the 
Great  organ  Open  Diapason,  long  regarded  as  the  foundation 
tone  of  the  instrument.  The  Open  Diapason  may  vary  in  size 
(or  scale)  from  9  inches  diameter  at  CC  to  3  inches.  The  aver- 
age size  is  about  6  inches. 

The  Diapasons  of  the  celebrated  old  organ-builders,  Father 
Schmidt,  Renatus  Harris,  Green,  Snetzler  and  others,  though 
small  in  power,  were  most  musical  in  tone  quality.  Though 
sounding  soft  near  the  organ,  the  tone  from  these  musical  stops 
seems  to  suffer  little  loss  when  traveling  to  the  end  of  quite  a 
large  building.  About  the  year  1862  Schulze,  in  his  celebrated 
organ  at  Doncaster,  England,  brought  into  prominence  a  new 
and  much  more  brilliant  and  powerful  Diapason.  The  mouths 


80  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

of  the  pipes  were  made  very  wide  and  they  were  more  freely 
blown.  Sehulze's  work  was  imitated  by  T.  C.  Lewis,  of  England, 
and  by  Willis.  It  has  also  exercised  very  great  influence  on  the 
work  done  by  almost  all  organ-builders  in  this  country,,  in  Ger- 
many, and  elsewhere.  Schulze's  method  of  treatment  added 
largely  to  the  assertiveness  and  power  of  the  tone,  but  gave  the 
impression  of  the  pipes  being  overblown  and  led  to  the  loss  of 
the  beautiful,  musical,  and  singing  quality  of  tone  furnished  by 
the  older  Diapasons.  Hard-toned  Diapasons  became  almost  the 
accepted  standard.  Willis  even  went  so  far  as  to  slot  all  of  his 
Diapason  pipes,  and  Cavai lie-Coll  sometimes  adopted  a  similar 
practice.  Walker,  in  England,  and  Henry  Erben,  in  this  coun- 
try, continued  to  produce  Diapasons  having  a  larger  percentage 
of  foundation  tone  and  they  and  a  few  other  builders  thus  helped 
to  keep  alive  the  old  traditions. 

In  the  year  1887  Hope-Jones  introduced  his  discovery  that 
by  leathering  the  lips  of  the  Diapason  pipes,  narrowing  their 
mouths,  inverting  their  languids  and  increasing  the  thickness 
of  the  metal,  the  pipes  could  be  voiced  on  10,  20,  or  even  30-inch 
wind,  without  hardness  of  tone,  forcing,  or  windiness  being  in- 
troduced. He  ceased  to  restrict  the  toe  of  the  pipe  and  did  all 
his  regulation  at  the  flue. 

His  invention  has  proved  of  profound  significance  to  the  organ 
world.  The  old  musical  quality,  rich  in  foundation  tone,  is 
returning,  but  with  added  power.  Its  use,  in  place  of  the  hard 
and  empty-toned  Diapasons  to  which  we  had  perforce  become 
accustomed,  is  rapidly  growing.  The  organs  in  almost  all  parts 
of  the  world  show  the  Hope-Jones  influence.  Few  builders  have 
failed  now  to  adopt  the  leathered  lip. 

Wedgwood,  in  his  "Dictionary  of  Organ  Stops,"  pp.  44.  45. 
says : 

"Mr.  Ernest  Skinner,  an  eminent  American  organ-builder,* 


*Mr.  Skinner  has  built  some  of  the  finest  organs  in  this  country. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  81 

likens  the  discovery  of  the  leathered  lip  to  the  invention  by 
Barker  of  the  pneumatic  lever,  predicting  that  it  will  revolu- 
tionize organ  tone  as  surely  and  completely  as  did  the  latter 
organ  mechanism,  an  estimate  which  is  by  no  means  so  exag- 
gerated as  might  be  supposed.  The  leathered  Diapason,  indeed, 
is  now  attaining  a  zenith  of  popularity  both  in  England  and 
America.*  A  prominent  German  builder  also,  who,  on  the  au- 
thor's recommendation,  made  trial  of  it,  was  so  struck  with  the 
refined  quality  of  tone  that  he  forthwith  signified  his  intention 
of  adopting  the  process.  A  few  isolated  and  unsuccessful  ex- 
perimental attempts  at  improving  the  tone  of  the  pipes  by  coat- 
ing their  lips  with  paper,  parchment,  felt,  and  kindred  sub- 
stances, have  been  recorded,  but  undoubtedly  the  credit  of  having 
been  the  first  to  perceive  the  value  and  inner  significance  of  the 
process  must  be  accorded  to  Mr.  Robert  Hope-Jones.  It  was 
only  at  the  cost  of  considerable  thought,  and  labour  that  he 
was  able  to  develop  his  crude  and  embryonic  scientific  theory 
into  a  process  which  bids  fair  to  transform  modern  organ  build- 
ing. The  names  of  Cavaille-Coll  and  George  Willis,  and  of 
Hope-Jones,  will  be  handed  down  to  posterity  as  the  authors  of 
the  most  valuable  improvements  in  the  domains  of  reed-voicing 
and  flue-voicing,  respectively,  which  have  been  witnessed  in  the 
present  era  of  organ  building." 

The  desire  for  power  in  Diapason  tone  first  found  expression 
in  this  country  by  the  introduction  into  our  larger  organs  of 
what  was  called  a  Stentorphone.  This  was  a  large  metal  Dia- 
pason of  ordinary  construction,  voiced  on  heavy  wind  pressure. 
It  was  most  harsh,  unmusical  and  inartistic.  It  produced  com- 
paratively little  foundation  tone  and  a  powerful  chord  of  har- 
monics, many  of  them  dissonant.  In  Germany,  Weigle,  of 
Stuttgart,  introduced  a  similar  stop,  but  actually  exaggerated 


*Much  of  Roosevelt's  finest  work  is  now  being  improved  by  various 
builders  by  leathering  the  lips. 


82 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


Fig.  17.   Diapason 
Pipe  with  Leath- 
ered Lip 


it>  want  of  refinement  by  making  the  mouth 
above  the  normal  width.  As  knowledge  of 
the  Hope-Jones  methods  spreads,  these  coarse 
and  unmusical  stops  disappear.  He  is  with- 
out question  right  in  urging  that  the  chief 
aim  in  using  heavy  pressure  should  be  to  in- 
crease refinement,  not  power  of  tone.  Sweet 
foundation  tone  produced  from  heavy  wind 
pressure  always  possesses  satisfactory  power. 
He  is  also  unquestionably  right  in  his  con- 
tention tha+  when  great  nobility  of  founda- 
tion tone  is  required,  Diapasons  should  not 
be  unduly  multiplied,  but  Tibias  or  large 
Flutes  should  be  used  behind  them. 

Every  epoch-making  innovation  raises  ad- 
versaries. 

We  learn  from  these  that  pure  foundation 
tone  does  not  blend.  True,  there  are  exam- 
ples of  organs  where  the  true  foundation 
tone  exists  but  does  not  blend  with  the  rest 
of  the  instrument,  but  it  is  mis- 
leading to  say  that  "pure  founda- 
tion tone  does  not  blend."  Hope- 
Jones  has  proved  conclusively  that 
by  exercise  of  the  requisite  skill  it 
does  and  so  have  others  who  follow  in  his 
steps.  A  view  of  the  mouth  of  a  Hope- 
Jones  heavy  pressure  Diapason,  with  inverted 
languid,  leather  lip  and  clothed  flue,  is  given 
in  Figure  IT. 

The  dull  tone  of  the  old  Diapasons  was 
due  to  the  absence  of  the  upper  harmonics 
or  partials.  With  the  introduction  of  the 
Lutheran  chorale  and  congregational  singing 


Lip 


Clotted  Flue 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  83 

it  was  found  that  the  existing  organs  could  not  make  themselves 
heard  above  the  voices.  But  it  was  discovered  empirically  that 
1>\  adding  their  harmonics  artificially  the  organs  could  be  bright- 
ened up  and  even  made  to  overpower  large  bodies  of  singers. 
Hence  the  introduction  of  the  Mixture  stops  (also  called  com- 
pound stops),  which  were  compounded  of  several  ranks  of  pipes. 
The  simplest  form  was  the  Doublette  sounding  the  15th  and  22nd 
(the  double  and  treble  octave)  of  the  note  struck.  Other  ranks 
added  sounded  the  12th,  19th,  and  so  on,  until  it  was  possible 
to  obtain  not  only  the  full  common  chord,  but  also  some  of  the 
higher  harmonics  dissonant  to  this  chord,  from  a  single  key. 

THE  DECLINE  OF  MIXTURES. 

Fifty  years  ago  it  was  common  to  find  the  number  of  ranks  of 
mixtures  in  an  organ  largely  exceed  the  total  number  of  founda- 
tion stops.  Mixtures  were  inserted  in  the  pedal  departments  of 
all  large  organs.  Organists  of  the  time  do  not  seem  to  have  ob- 
jected and  many  of  the  leading  players  strongly  opposed  Hope- 
Jones  when  he  came  out  as  the  champion  of  their  abolition. 
These  stops  greatly  excited  the  ire  of  Berlioz,  who  declaims 
against  them  in  his  celebrated  work  on  orchestration. 

The  tone  of  these  old  organs,  when  all  the  Mixture  work  is 
drawn,  is  well  nigh  ludicrous  to  modern  ears,  and  it  is  hard  to 
suppress  a  smile  when  reading  the  statements  and  arguments 
advanced  in  favor  of  the  retention  of  Mixtures  by  well-known 
organists  of  the  last  generation.  These  mutation  stops  still  have 
their  place  in  large  instruments,  but  it  is  no  longer  thought  that 
they  are  necessary  to  support  the  singing  of  a  congregation  and 
that  they  should  be  voiced  loudly.  The  decline  of  Mixture  work 
has  in  itself  entirely  altered  and  very  greatly  improved  the  effect 
of  organs  when  considered  from  a  musical  point  of  view.  The 
tone  is  now  bright  and  clear.  Mr.  James  Wedgwood  says : 

"The  tendency  to  exaggerate  the  'upper  work'  of  the  organ 
reached  a  climax  in  the  instrument  built  by  Gabler,  in  1750,  for 


84  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

the  Monastic  Church  at  Weingarten,  near  Kavensburg.  This 
organ  comprised  no  less  than  ninety-five  ranks  of  Mixture,  in- 
cluding two  stops  of  twenty-one  and  twenty  ranks,  respectively. 
Toward  the  close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century,  the  Abt  Vogler 
(1749-1814)  came  forward  with  his  'Simplification  System/  one 
feature  of  which  consisted  in  the  abolition  of  excessive  Mixture 
work.  The  worthy  Abbe,  who  was  a  capable  theorist  and  a  gifted 
player,  and  possessed  of  an  eccentric  and,  therefore,  attractive 
personality,  secured  many  followers,  who  preached  a  crusade 
against  Mixture  work.  The  success  of  the  movement  can  well 
be  measured  by  the  amount  of  apologetic  literature  it  called 
forth,  and  by  the  fact  that  it  stirred  the  theorists  to  ponder  for 
themselves  what  really  was  the  function  of  the  Mixture.  *  *  * 
The  announcement  by  Mr.  Hope-Jones  at  the  beginning  of  the 
last  decade  of  the  past  century  of  his  complete  discardment  of 
all  Mixture  and  mutation  work  may  fairly  be  stated  to  have 
marked  a  distinct  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  controversy." 

It  is  indeed  strange  to  find  that  this  man,  who  did  much  to 
discourage  the  use  of  mixtures,  has  never  quite  abandoned  their 
employment  and  is  to-day  the  sole  champion  of  double  sets  of 
mixture  pipes,  which  he  puts  in  his  organs  under  the  name  of 
Mixture  Celestes!  However,  these  are  very  soft  and  are  of 
course  quite  different  in  object  and  scope  from  the  old-fashioned 
mixture — now  happily  extinct. 

FLUTES. 

The  chief  developments  in  Flutes  that  have  taken  place  during 
the  period  under  consideration  are  the  popularization  of  the 
double  length,  or  "Harmonic,"  principle,*  by  Cavaille-Coll,  by 
William  Thynne  and  others,  and  the  introduction  of  large  scale, 
leather-lipped  "Tibias"  by  Hope-Jones. 

*The  "Harmonic"  principle  is  described  in  Dom  Bedos'  book,  published 
in  1780,  as  applied  to  reeds,  and  Dr.  Bedart  states  that  this  principle  was 
applied  to  flutes  as  early  as  1804. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  85 

Harmonic  Flutes,  of  double  length  open  pipes,*  are  now  util- 
ized by  almost  all  organ  builders.  Speaking  generally,  the  tone 
is  pure  and  possesses  considerable  carrying  power.  Thynne,  in 
his  Zauber  Flote,  introduced  stopped  pipes  blown  so  as  to  pro- 
duce their  first  harmonic  (an  interval  of  a  twelfth  from  the 
ground  tone).  The  tone  is  of  quiet  silvery  beauty,  but  the  stop 
does  not  seem  to  have  been  largely  adopted  by  other  builders. 
Perhaps  the  most  beautiful  stop  of  this  kind  produced  by 
Thynne  is  the  one  in  the  remarkable  organ  in  the  home  of  Mr. 
J.  Martin  White,  Balruddery,  Dundee,  Scotland. 

The  Hope-Jones  leathered  Tibias  have  already  effected  a  revo- 
lution in  the  tonal  structure  of  large  organs.  They  produce  a 
much  greater  percentage  of  foundation  tone  than  the  best  Dia- 
pasons and  are  finding  their  way  into  most  modern  organs  of 
size.  They  appear  under  various  names,  such  as  Tibia  Plena, 
Tibia  Clausa,  Gross  Flote,  Flute  Fundamentale  and  Philomela. 

"The  word  Tibia  has  consistently  been  adapted  to  the  nomen- 
clature of  organ  stops  on  the  Continent  (of  Europe)  for  some 
centuries.  The  word  Tibia  is  now  used  in  this  country  to  de- 
note a  quality  of  tone  of  an  intensely  massive,  full  and  clear 
character,  first  realized  by  Mr.  Hope-Jones,  though  faintly  fore- 
shadowed by  Bishop  in  his  Clarabella.  It  is  produced  from  pipes 
of  a  very  large  scale,  yielding  a  volume  of  foundation  tone,  ac- 
companied by  the  minimum  of  harmonic  development.  Even 
from  a  purely  superficial  point  of  view,  the  tone  of  the  Tibia 
family  is  most  attractive;  but,  further,  its  value  in  welding  to- 
gether the  constituent  tones  of  the  organ  and  coping  with  modern 
rood-work  is  inestimable. "f 

"The  Tibia  Plena  was  invented  by  Mr.  Hope-Jones,  and  first 
introduced  by  him  into  the  organ  at  St.  John's,  Birkenhead, 


*That  is  to  say,  the  pipes  are  made  double  the  length  actually  required, 
but  are  made  to  sound  an  octave  higher  by  means  of  a  hole  pierced  half- 
way up  the  pipe. 

fWedgwood :  "Dictionary  of  Organ  Stops,"  p.  150, 


86  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

England,  about  1887.  It  is  a  wood  Flute  of  very  large  scale, 
with  the  mouth  on  the  narrow  side  of  the  pipe.  The  block  is 
sunk,  and  the  lip,  which  is  of  considerable  thickness,  is  usually 
coated  with  a  thin  strip  of  leather  to  impart  to  the  tone  the 
requisite  smoothness  and  finish.  It  is  voiced  on  any  wind  pres- 
sure from  4-inch  upwards.  The  Tibia  Plena  is  the  most  power- 
ful and  weighty  of  all  the  Tibia  tribe  of  stops.  It  is,  therefore, 
invaluable  in  large  instruments.  *  *  *  The  Tibia  Profunda 
and  Tibia  Profundissima  are  16-ft.  and  32-ft.  Pedal  extensions 
of  the  Tibia  Plena."* 

"The  Tibia  Clausa  is  a  wood  Gedackt  of  very  large  scale  (in 
other  words,  a  stopped  pipe),  furnished  with  leather  lips.  It  was 
invented  by  Mr.  Hope-Jones.  The  tone  is  powerful  and  beauti- 
fully pure  and  liquid.  The  prevailing  fault  of  the  modern  Swell 
organ  is,  perhaps,  the  inadequacy  of  the  Flute  work.  *  *  *  It 
was  the  recognition  of  this  shortcoming  which  led  to  the  inven- 
tion of  the  Tibia  Clausa."f 

The  Tibia  Dura  is  another  of  Mr.  Hope-Jones'  inventions.  It 
is  an  open  wood  pipe  of  peculiar  shape,  wider  at  the  top  than  the 
bottom,  and  described  by  Wedgwood  as  of  "bright,  hard,  and 
searching"  tone. 

The  Tibia  Minor  was  invented  by  Mr.  John  H.  Compton,  of 
Nottingham,  England,  one  of  the  most  artistic  builders  in  that 
country.  "The  Tibia  Minor  bears  some  resemblance  to  Mr.  Hope- 
Jones5  Tibia  Clausa,  but  being  destined  more  for  use  on  an  open 
wind-chest,  differs  in  some  important  respects.  The  stop  is 
now  generally  made  of  wood,  though  several  specimens  have  been 
made  of  metal.  In  all  cases  the  upper  lip  is  leathered.  The 
tone  of  the  Tibia  Minor  is  extraordinarily  effective.  In  the  bass 
it  is  round  and  velvety  *  *  *  in  the  treble  the  tone  becomes 
very  clear  and  full  *  *  *  it  forms  a  solo  stop  of  remarkably 


*  Wedgwood:  75  id.,  p.  153. 
fWedgwood:  Ibid.,  p.  151. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  87 

fine  effect,  and  in  combination  serves  to  add  much  clearness 
and  fulness  of  tone  to  the  treble,  and,  in  general,  exercises  to 
the  fullest  extent  the  beneficial  characteristics  of  the  -Tibia 
class  of  stop  already  detailed.  If  only  by  reason  of  the  faculty 
so  largely  exercised,  of  thus  mollifying  and  enriching  the  upper 
notes  of  other  stops — which  too  often  prove  hard  and  strident 
in  tone — the  Tibia  Minor  deserves  recognition  as  one  of  the 
most  valuable  of  modern  tonal  inventions."* 

The  Tibia  Mollis,  invented  by  Mr.  Hope-Jones,  is  a  Flute  of 
soft  tone,  composed  of  rectangular  wooden  pipes.  The  name 
Tibia  Mollis  is  also  employed  by  Mr.  John  H.  Compton  to  de- 
note a  more  subdued  variety  of  his  Tibia  Minor. 

Other  Flutes  found  in  organs  are  the  Stopped  Diapason, 
Clarabella,  Clarinet  Flute,  Rohrflote  (Eeed-flute),  Wald  Flote, 
Flauto  Traverse,  Suabe  Flute,  Clear  Flute,  Doppel  Flote  (with 
two  mouths),  Melodia,  Orchestral  Flute,  etc.,  each  of  a  different 
quality  of  tone  and  varying  in  intensity.  The  Philomela  as 
made  by  Jardine  is  a  melodia  with  two  mouths. 

STRINGS. 

Under  this  head  are  grouped  the  stops  which  imitate  the  tones 
of  such  stringed  instruments  as  the  Viola,  the  Violoncello,  the 
Double  Bass,  and  more  especially  the  old  form  of  Violoncello, 
called  the  Viol  di  Gamba,  which  had  six  strings  and  was  more 
nasal  in  tone. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  period  herein  spoken  of  string- 
toned  stops  as  we  know  them  to-day  scarcely  existed.  This  family 
was  practically  represented  by  the  Dulciana  and  by  the  old  slow- 
speaking  German  Gamba.  These  Gambas  were  more  like  Diapa- 
sons than  strings. 

Edmund  Schulze  made  an  advance  and  produced  some  Gambas 
and  Violones  which,  though  of  robust  and  full-bodied  type,  were 


*Wedgwood:  Ibid.,  p.  153. 


88  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

pleasant  and  musical  in  tone.  They  were  at  the  time  deemed 
capable  of  string-like  effects. 

To  William  Thynne  belongs  the  credit  of  a  great  step  in  ad- 
vance. The  string  tones  heard  in  the  Michell  and  Thynne  organ 
at  the  Liverpool,  England,  exhibition  in  1886  were  a  revelation 
of  the  possibilities  in  this  direction,  and  many  organs  subse- 
quently introduced  contained  beautiful  stops  from  his  hands — 
notably  the  orchestral-toned  instrument  in  the  residence  of 
J.  Martin  White,  Dundee,  Scotland — an  ardent  advocate  of 
string  tone.  Years  later  Thynne's  partner,  Carlton  C.  Mitchell, 
produced  much  beautiful  work  in  this  direction.  Hope-Jones 
founded  his  work  on  the  Thynne  model  and  by  introducing 
smaller  scales,  bellied  pipes  and  sundry  improvements  in  detail, 
produced  the  keen  and  refined  string  stops  now  finding  their 
way  into  all  organs  of  importance.  His  delicate  Viols  are  of 
exceedingly  small  scale  (some  examples  measuring  only  1% 
inches  in  diameter  at  the  8-foot  note).  They  are  met  with  under 
the  names  of  Viol  d'  Orchestre,  Viol  Celeste  and  Dulcet.*  These 
stops  have  contributed  more  than  anything  else  towards  the 
organ  suitable  for  the  performance  of  orchestral  music. 

Haskell  has  introduced  several  beautiful  varieties  of  wood  and 
metal  stops  of  keen  tone,  perhaps  the  best  known  being  the  labial 
Oboe  and  Saxophone,  commonly  found  in  Estey  organs.  His 
work  is  destined  to  exert  considerable  influence  upon  the  art. 

Other  string-toned  stops  found  nowadays  in  organs  are  the 
Keraulophon,  Aeoline,  Gemshorn,  Spitzflote,  Clariana,  Fugara, 
Salicet,  Salicional,  and  Erzahler.f 

REEDS. 
As  remarked  in  our  opening  chapter,  pipes  with  strips  of 


*"The  Hope-Jones  pattern  of  Muted  Viol  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
tones  conceivable." — Wedgwood:  "Dictionary  of  Organ  Stops,"  p.  173. 

fThe  Erziihler,  a  modified  Gemshorn,  is  found  only  in  organs  built  by 
Ernest  M.  Skinner. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone 


89 


cane  or  reeds  in  the  mouthpiece  are  of 
great  antiquity,  being  found  side  by 
side  with  the  flutes  in  the  Egyptian 
tombs.  These  reeds,  as  those  used  at 
the  present  day,  were  formed  of  the 
outer  siliceous  layer  of  a  tall  grass, 
Arundo  donax,  or  sativa,  which  grows 
in  Egypt  and  the  south  of  Europe. 
They  were  frequently  double,  but  the 
prototype  of  the  reed  organ-pipe  is  to 
be  seen  in  the  clarinet,  where  the  reed 
is  single  and  beats  against  the  mouth- 
piece. Of  course,  an  artificial  mouth- 
piece has  to  be  provided  for  our  organ- 
pipe,  but  this  is  called  the  boot.  See 
Figure  19,  which  shows  the  construction 
of  a  reed  organ-pipe.  A  is  the  boot 
containing  a  tube  called  the  eschallot 
B,  partly  cut  away  and  the  opening 
closed  by  a  brass  tongue  C,  which  vi- 
brates under  pressure  of  the  wind.  D 
is  the  wire  by  which  the  tongue  is 
tuned;  E  the  body  of  the  pipe  which 
acts  as  a  resonator. 

In  the  last  half-century  the  art  of 
reed  voicing  has  been  entirely  revolu- 
tionized. Prior  to  the  advent  of  Willis, 
organ  reeds  were  poor,  thin,  buzzy 
things,  with  little  or  no  grandeur  of 
effect,  and  were  most  unmusical  in 
quality.  Testimony  to  the  truth  of 
this  fact  is  to  be  found  in  old  instruc- 

.   tion  books  for  organ  students.     It  is 
Fig.  18.    Haskell's  Clarinet 

Without  Reed  there  stated  that  reeds  should  never  be 


90 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


used  alone,  but  that  a  Stopped  Diapason  or  other  rank  of  flue 
pipes  must  always  be  drawn  with  them  to  improve  the  tone 
quality. 

Willis  created  an  entirely  new  school  of  reed  voicing.  He  was 
the  first  to  show  that  reeds  could  be  made 
really  beautiful  and  fit  for  use  without  help 
from  flue  stops.  When  he  wanted  power  he 
obtained  it  by  raising  the  pressure,  in  order 
that  he  might  be  able  to  afford  still  to  restrain 
the  tone  and  to  consider  only  beauty  of  musical 
quality. 

He  was  the  first  to  show  that  every  trace  of 
roughness  and  rattle  could  be  obviated  by  im- 
parting to  the  reed  tongue  exactly  the  right 
curve. 

He  restrained  too  emphatic  vibrations  in  the 
case  of  the  larger  reed  tongues  by  affixing  to 
them  with  small  screws,  weights  made  of  brass. 
He  quickly  adopted  the  practice  of  using  har- 
monic, or  double-length  tubes,  for  the  treble 
notes,  and  secured  a  degree  of  power  and  bril- 
liance never  before  dreamed  possible. 

Willis  gave  up  the  open  eschallot  in  favor  of 
the  closed  variety,  thereby  securing  greater  re- 
finement of  musical  quality,  though  of  course 
sacrificing  power  of  tone.     He  designed  many 
varieties  of  reed  tubes,  the  most  notable  depart- 
ure from  existing  standards  being  probably  his 
Cor  Anglais  and  Orchestral  Oboe. 
Under  the  guiding  genius  of  Willis,  the  Swell  organ — which 
had  hitherto  been  a  poor  and  weak  department,  entirely  over- 
shadowed by  the  Great — became  rich,  powerful  and  alive  with 
angry  reeds,  which  were  nevertheless  truly  musical  in  effect. 
Hope-Jones  took  up  the  work  where  Willis  left  it,  and  has  not 


B 


Fig.  19. 
Diagram  of 
Reed  Pipe 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  91 

only  pushed  the  Willis  work  to  its  logical  conclusion,  but  has 
introduced  a  new  school  of  his  own. 

He  has  taken  the  Willis  chorus  reeds  and  by  doubling  the  wind 
pressures  and  increasing  the  loading  and  thickness  of  tongues, 
has  produced  results  of  surpassing  magnificence.  From  the 
Willis  Cor  Anglais  he  has  developed  his  Double  English  Horn, 
from  the  Willis  Oboe  his  Oboe  Horn,  and  from  the  Willis  Or- 
chestral Oboe  the  thin-toned  stops  of  that  class  now  being  intro- 
duced by  Austin,  Skinner  and  by  his  own  firm.  His  chief  claim 
to  distinction  in  this  field,  however,  lies  in  the  production  of  the 
smooth  reed  tone  now  so  rapidly  coming  into  general  use ;  in  his 
85-note  Tuba ;  in  the  use  of  diminutive  eschallots  with  mere  saw- 
cut  openings;  in  providing  means  for  making  reed  pipes  stand 
in  tune  almost  as  well  as  flue  pipes;  and  in  the  utilization  of 
"vowel  cavities"  for  giving  character  to  orchestral-toned  reeds. 

The  latter  are  of  particular  interest,  as  their  possibilities  are  in 
process  of  development.  The  results  already  achieved  have  done 
much  to  make  the  most  advanced  organ  rival  the  orchestra. 

To  exemplify  the  principle  of  the  vowel  cavities  Hope-Jones 
was  in  the  habit,  in  his  factory  in  Birkenhead,  England,  in  1890, 
of  placing  the  end  of  one  of  his  slim  Kinura  reed  pipes  in  his 
mouth  and  by  making  the  shape  of  the  latter  favor  the  oo,  ah,  eh, 
or  ee,  entirely  altered  and  modified  the  quality  of  tone  emitted  by 
the  pipe. 

Some  years  ago  in  an  organ  built  for  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
Irvington-on-Hudson,  N".  Y.,  Hope-Jones  introduced  a  beating 
reed  having  no  pipes  or  resonators  of  any  kind.  He  is  using 
this  form  of  reed  in  most  of  his  organs  now  building. 

In  England  this  vowel  "cavity  principle  has  been  applied  to 
Orchestral  Oboes,  Kinuras  and  Vox  Humanas,  but  in  this  coun- 
try it  was  introduced  but  seven  years  ago  and  has  so  far  been 
adapted  only  to  Orchestral  Oboes.  At  the  time  of  writing  it  is 
being  introduced  in  connection  with  Hope-Jones'  Vox  Humanas 
and  Kinuras.  Examples  are  to  be  seen  in  the  Wanamaker  (New 


92  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

York)  organ;  in  Park  Church,  Elmira;  Buffalo  Cathedral;  Co- 
lumbia College,  St.  James'  Church,  New  York;  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York;  Ocean  Grove  Auditorium,  and  elsewhere. 
There  undoubtedly  lies  a  great  future  before  this  plan  for  in- 


Brass  Slides 


Fig.  20.     Vox  Humana  with  Vowel  Cavity  Attached. 
Fig.  21.     Orchestral  Oboe  with  Vowel  Cavity  Attached 
Fig.  22.     Kinura  with  Vowel  Cavity  Attached 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  93 

creasing  the  variety  of  orchestral  tone  colors.  Figure  20  shows 
a  vowel  cavity  applied  to  a  Vox  Humana  (Norwich  Cathedral, 
England),  Figure  21  to  an  Orchestral  Oboe  (Worcester  Cathe- 
dral, England),  and  Figure  22  to  a  Kinura  (Kinoul,  Scotland). 

Builders  who  have  not  mastered  the  art  of  so  curving  their 
reed  tongues  that  buzz  and  rattle  are  impossible  have  endeavored 
to  obtain  smoothness  of  tone  by  leathering  the  face  of  the  es- 
challot.  This  pernicious  practice  has  unfortunately  obtained 
much  headway  in  the  United  States  and  in  Germany.  It  cannot 
be  too  strongly  condemned,  for  its  introduction  robs  the  reeds  of 
their  characteristic  virility  of  tone.  Eeeds  that  are  leathered 
cannot  be  depended  upon;  atmospheric  changes  affect  them  and 
put  them  out  of  tune. 

The  French  school  of  reed  voicing,  led  by  Cavaille-Coll,  has 
produced  several  varieties  that  have  become  celebrated.  Many 
French  Orchestral  reeds  are  refined  and  beautiful  in  quality  and 
the  larger  Trumpets  and  Tubas,  though  assertive  and  blatant,  are 
not  unmusical.  The  French  school,  however,  does  not  appear 
to  be  destined  to  exercise  any  great  influence  upon  the  art  in 
this  country.  (For  further  information  regarding  reeds  see 
chapter  on  tuning.) 

UNDULATING  STOPS CELESTES. 

The  writer  is  not  aware  who  first  introduced  into  the  organ 
a  rank  of  soft-toned  pipes  purposely  tuned  a  trifle  sharp  or  flat 
to  the  normal  pitch  of  the  organ,  so  as  to  cause  a  beat  or  wave 
in  the  tone.  Fifty  years  ago  such  stops  were  sparingly  used  and 
many  organists  condemned  their  employment  altogether.  Stop?? 
of  the  kind  were  hardly  ever  found  in  small  organs  and  the 
largest  instruments  seldom  contained  more  than  one. 

A  great  development  in  this  direction  has  taken  place  and 
further  advance  seems  to  be  immediate.  Already  most  builders 
introduce  a  Celeste  into  their  small  organs  and  two  or  three  into 


94  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

their  larger  instruments — whilst  Hope-Jones'  organs  are  planned 
with  Vox  Humana  Celestes,  Physharmonica  Celestes,  Kinura 
Celestes  and  even  Mixture  Celestes! 

Most  modern  Celestes  are  tuned  sharp,  the  effect  being  more 
animated  than  if  it  were  tuned  flat;  but  the  aggregate  effect 
and  general  utility  of  the  stop  are.  greatly  enhanced  by  the  use 
of  two  ranks  of  pipes,  one  being  tuned  sharp  and  the  other  flat 
to  the  organ  pitch.  A  three-rank  Celeste  (sharp,  flat,  and  unison) 
formed  one  of  the  novel  features  of  the  organ  in  Worcester 
Cathedral,  England,  built  by  Hope-Jones  in  1896.  Wedg- 
wood credits  its  invention  to  Mr.  Thomas  Casson.  The  three- 
rank  Celeste  is  also  to  be  found  in  the  organs  of  the  Bennett 
Organ  Company. 

Apart  from  the  inherent  beauty  of  the  tones  there  is  much 
to  be  said  in  favor  of  the  presence  of  these  stops — if  the  organ 
is  to  be  used  as  an  adjunct  to,  or  a  substitute  for,  the  orchestra. 
The  whole  orchestra  is  one  huge  and  ever-varying  "Celeste." 
Were  it  not  so  its  music  would  sound  dead  and  cold.  Few  of 
the  instrumentalists  ever  succeed  in  playing  a  single  bar 
absolutely  in  tune  with  the  other  components  of  the  band. 

PERCUSSION    STOPS. 

This  class  of  stop  is  also  now  finding  its  way  into  organs  more 
generally  than  heretofore.  Eesonating  gongs  giving,  when  skill- 
fully used,  effects  closely  resembling  a  harp  have  been  intro- 
duced freely  by  the  Aeolian  Company  in  its  house  organs,  and 
there  seems  no  possible  objection  to  such  introduction.  The 
tone  is  thoroughly  musical  and  blends  perfectly  with  the  other 
registers.  Under  the  name  of  "Chimes"  these  resonant  gongs 
are  now  finding  place  in  many  Church  and  Concert  organs. 
Tubular  bells  are  also  used  in  a  similar  capacity  by  all  the  lead- 
ing organ-builders. 

The  greatest  development  in  this  direction  is  found  in  the 
Hope-Jones  Unit  Orchestra.  In  these  instruments  fully  one- 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  95 

third  of  the  speaking  stops  rely  on  percussion  for  production  of 
their  tones.  Even  small  instruments  of  this  type  have  all  got 
the  following  percussion  sjops:  Chimes,  Chrysoglott,  Glocken- 
spiel., Electric  Bells  (with  resonators),  Xylophone,  and  carefully- 
tuned  Sleigh  Bells — in  addition  to  single  percussive  instruments, 
such  as  Snare-drum,  Bass-drum,  Kettle-drum,  Tambourine,  Cas- 
tanets, Triangle,  Cymbals,  and  Chinese  Gong. 

As  all  these  tone  producers  are  enclosed  in  a  thick  Swell  box, 
an  artist  is  able  to  employ  them  with  as  much  refinement  of  effect 
as  is  heard  when  they  are  heard  in  a  Symphony  Orchestra. 

Mr.  Hope-Jones  informs  the  writer  that  he  has  just  invented 
an  electric  action  which  strikes  a  blow  accurately  proportioned  to 
the  force  employed  in  depressing  the  key,  thus  obtaining  expres- 
sion from  the  fingers  as  in  the  pianoforte.  He  will  apply  this 
to  the  percussion  stops  in  organs  he  may  build  in  the  future. 

When  skilfully  employed  many  of  these  percussion  stops  blend 
so  perfectly  with  the  flue  and  reed  pipes  that  they  become  an 
important  integral  part  of  the  instrument — not  merely  a  collec- 
tion of  fancy  stops  for  occasional  use. 

THE  DIAPHONE. 

The  invention  of  the  Diaphone  by  Hope-Jones  in  1894  will 
some  day  be  regarded  as  the  most  important  step  in  advance 
hitherto  achieved  in  the  art  of  organ  building.  The  existence  of 
patents  at  present  prevents  general  adoption  of  the  invention 
and  limits  it  to  the  instruments  made  by  one  particular  builder. 
In  addition  to  this  the  Diaphone  takes  so  many  forms  and  covers 
so  large  a  field  that  time  must  necessarily  pass  before  its  full 
possibilities  are  realized. 

Enough  was,  however,  done  by  Hope-Jones  in  connection 
with  the  organs  he  built  in  England  a  dozen  or  eighteen  years 
ago  to  leave  the  experimental  stage  and  prove  the  invention  to 
be  of  the  greatest  practical  importance  to  the  future  of  organ 
building.  The  author's  opinion  that  before  long  every  new  large 


96  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


Fig.  23.     Diaphone  in  Worcester  Cathedral,  Eng. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone 


97 


organ  will  be  built  upon  the  Diaphone  as  a  foundation,  is  shared 
by  all  who  have  had  opportunity  to  judge.  By  no  other  means 
known  to-day  can  anything  approaching  such  grand  and  dignified 
Diapason  tone  be  produced.  Were  twenty  large  Diapasons  added 
to  the  instrument  in  Ocean  Grove,  N".  J., 
or  to  that  in  the  Baptist  Temple,  Phila- 
delphia, and  were  the  Diaphone  removed, 
the  instrument  would  suffer  most  seri- 
ously. In  the  Pedal  department  no  reed 
or  flue  pipe  can  begin  to  compare  with  a 
Diaphone,  either  in  attack  or  in  volume 
of  tone. 

In  Figure  23  we  give  a  sectional  view 
of  the  first  large  Diaphone  made,  namely 
that  constructed  for  the  Hope-Jones  or- 
gan in  Worcester  Cathedral,  Eng.,  1896. 
M  is  a  pneumatic  motor  or  bellows  to 
which  is  attached  a  rod  bearing  the  com- 
pound and  spring  valve  V,  V1,  working 
against  the  spring  S.  On  the  admission 
of  wind  (under  pressure)  to  the  box  A, 
the  motor  M  is  caused  to  collapse,  and 
thereby  to  open  the  valves  V,  V1.  Wind 
then  rushes  into  the  chamber  B,  and 
entering  the  interior  of  motor  M  through 
the  passage  C,  equalizes  the  pressure  in 
the  motor.  The  action  of  the  springs 
now  serves  to  close  the  valves  V,  V1,  and 
to  open  out  the  motor  M,  whereupon  the 
process  is  repeated. 

In  Fig.  24  we  illustrate  the  Diaphone 
in  the  Hope-Jones  organ  built  for  Aber- 
deen University,  Scotland.  The  action 
is  as  follows : 


Fig.   24.      Diaphone  in 

.  I  Itcnlct'ii   I  nii'crxitt/. 


98 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  99 

Wind  from  the  organ  bellows  enters  the  pipe  foot  F,  and 
raises  the  pressure  in  the  chamber  C.  The  air  in  the  chamber 
will  press  upon  the  back  of  the  valve  V,  tending  to  keep  it  closed. 
It  will  press  also  upon  the  bellows  or  motor  M,  and  as  this 
bellows  has  a  much  larger  area  than  that  of  the  valve,  it  will 
instantly  collapse,  and,  through  the  medium  of  the  tail  piece  T, 
will  pull  the  valve  V  off  its  seat  and  allow  the  compressed  air 
in  the  chamber  C  to  rush  into  the  resonator  or  pipe  P.  Owing 
to  the  inertia  of  the  column  of  air  contained  in  the  pipe  P,  a 
momentary  compression  will  take  place  at  the  lower  end  of  the 
pipe,  and  the  pressure  of  the  air  inside  the  motor  M  will,  in 
consequence,  be  raised.  The  motor  having  now  increased  pres- 
sure both  sides,  will  no  longer  keep  the  valve  off  its  seat,  and 
the  spring  S  will  open  the  motor  and  close  the  valve.  The  com- 
pression caused  by  the  admission  of  the  puff  of  air  into  the  lower 
parts  of  the  pipe  P  will  be  followed  by  the  usual  rarefaction, 
and  as  this  rarefaction  will  exhaust  or  suck  the  air  from  the 
inside  of  the  motor  M,  the  valve  will  again  be  lifted  from  its 
seat,  and  the  cycle  of  operations  will  be  repeated  as  long  as  the 
wind  supply  is  kept  up.  A  series  of  regular  puffs  of  wind  will 
thus  be  delivered  into  the  lower  part  of  the  resonator  or  pipe, 
resulting  in  a  musical  note. 

Figs.  25,  26,  27  represent  the  first  Diaphone  heard  in  a  public 
building  in  this  country,  namely  that  of  a  model  sounded  in 
St.  Patrick's  Cathedral,  New  York  City,  in  190'5.  In  this  form 
of  Diaphone  the  pressure  of  air  operating  the  Diaphone  has  been 
varied  between  10  inches  and  500  inches,  without  perceptible 
variation  in  the  pitch  of  the  note  emitted. 

Referring  to  Fig.  25,  the  chamber  WW  is  supplied  with 
air  under  pressure  whenever  the  organist  presses  a  key  or  pedal 
calling  into  use  this  particular  note.  The. pressure  of  air  enters 
through  the  circular  engine  supply  port  S,  thus  raising  the 
pressure  in  the  chamber  C  and  forcing  in  an  upward  direction 
the  aluminum  piston  P  through  the  medium  of  the  division 


100  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Build  in-fj 


Fig.  28.     Diaphone  in  the  Auditorium,  Ocean  Grove,  N.  J, 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  101 

D  (colored  black),  which  forms  a  portion  of  the  aluminum 
piston. 

When  the  lower  edge  of  the  piston  has  risen  a  certain  distance 
it  will  uncover  the  circular  engine  exhaust  port  E,  and  will 
allow  the  compressed  air  to  escape  into  the  atmosphere.  At 
this  moment  the  rise  of  the  piston  will  have  closed  the  engine 
supply  port  S. 

The  momentum  acquired  by  the  piston  (see  Fig.  27)  will  cause 
it  to  travel  upward  a  little  further,  and  this  upward  travel  of 
the  division  D  will  cause  a  compression  of  air  to  take  place 
at  the  foot  of  the  resonator  or  pipe  E.  This  compression  will 
be  vastly  increased  through  the  simultaneous  opening  of  the 
eight  circular  speaking  ports  SP. 

The  pressure  of  the  compressed  air  at  the  foot  of  the  resonator 
R  will  now  by  acting  on  the  upper  surface  of  the  division  D 
depress  the  aluminum  piston  until  the  engine  supply  port  S  is 
again  opened. 

By  this  time  the  compression  at  the  foot  of  resonator  R  will 
have  traveled  up  the  pipe  in  the  form  of  a  sound  wave,  and 
will  have  been  followed  by  the  complementary  rarefaction.  This 
rarefaction  on  the  upper  side  will  render  more  effective  the 
pressure  of  the  compressed  air  again  admitted  through  the 
engine  supply  port  S  on  the  underside  of  division  D. 

It  will  be  seen  that  this  cycle  of  operations  will  be  repeated 
as  long  as  the  organist  holds  down  his  pedal  or  key  admitting 
compressed  air  to  the  chamber  W. 

As  the  aluminum  piston  P  is  very  light  and  is  in  no  way 
impeded  in  its  movement  or  swing,  the  speed  of  its  vibration, 
and  consequently  the  pitch  of  the  note  emitted,  will  be  governed 
by  the  length  of  the  resonator  or  pipe  R. 

The  tone  given  by  this  particular  form  of  Diaphone  possesses 
a  peculiar  sweetness  in  quality,  while  the  power  is  limited  only 
by  the  pressure  of  air  used  to  operate  it. 

In  Fig.  28  we  give  an  illustration  of  the  form  of  Diaphone 


102  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


Fig.  29.     Diaphone  in  St,  Paul's  Cathedral,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  103 

used  in  the  Hope-Jones  Unit  organ  at  the  Auditorium,  Ocean 
Grove,  N".  J. 

P  is  a  pallet  controlling  the  admission  of  air  into  the  body 
of  the  pipe  P1.  M  is  a  motor  adapted  for  plucking  open  the 
pallet  P  through  the  medium  of  strap  s.  The  box  B  is  per- 
manently supplied  with  air  under  pressure  from  the  bellows. 
When  the  valves  V  and  V1  are  in  the  position  shown  in  the 
drawing,  the  Diaphone  is  out  of  action,  for  the  wind  from  the 
box  B  will  find  its  way  through  the  valve  V  (which  is  open) 
into  the  interior  of  the  motor  M. 

When  it  is  desired  to  make  the  note  speak,  the  small  exterior 
motors  M1  and  M2  are  simultaneously  inflated  by  the  electro- 
pneumatic  action  operated  by  depressing  the  pedal  key.  The 
valve  V  will  thereupon  be  closed  and  the  valve  V1  be  opened. 
As  the  pressure  of  air  inside  the  motor  M  will  now  escape  into 
the  pipe  or  resonator  P1,  the  motor  will  collapse  and  the  pallet 
P  will  be  opened  in  spite  of  the  action  of  the  spring  S  which 
tends  to  keep  it  closed. 

The  wind  in  the  box  B  will  now  suddenly  rush  into  the  lower 
end  of  the  pipe  P1,  and  by  causing  a  compression  of  the  air  at 
that  point  will  again  raise  the  pressure  of  the  air  inside  the 
motor  M.  The  pallet  will  thereupon  close  and  the  cycle  of 
operations  will  be  repeated — thus  admitting  a  series  of  puffs  of 
wind  into  the  foot  of  the  pipe  P1  and  thereby  producing  a  musical 
tone  of  great  power. 

As  the  valve  V1  is  open,  the  sound  waves  formed  in  the  pipe  P1 
will  govern  the  speed  of  vibration  of  the  motor  M.  It  will  thus 
be  obvious  that  the  Diaphone  will  always  be  in  perfect  tune  with 
the  resonator  or  pipe  P1,  and  that  the  pitch  of  the  note  may  be 
altered  by  varying  the  length  of  the  pipe. 

In  Fig.  29  will  be  found  an  illustration  of  the  Diaphone  (or 
valvular  reed)  used  in  the  Hope- Jones  organ  at  St.  PauFs 
Cathedral,  Buffalo,  N.  Y. 

Upon  depressing  a  key,  wind  is  admitted  into  the  box  B. 


104  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


Fig.  30.     Diaphoiic  Producing  Foundation    Tone 


The  Production  of  Organ  Tone  10r> 

Pressing  upon  the  valve  V  it  causes  it  to  close  against  its  seat 
in  spite  of  the  action  of  the  spring  S.  This,  however,  does  not 
take  place  until  a  pulse  of  air  has  passed  into  the  foot  of  the 
pipe  P,  thereby  originating  a  sound  wave  which  in  due  time 
liberates  the  valve  V  and  allows  the  spring  S  to  move  it  off  its 
seat  and  allow  another  puff  of  air  to  enter  the  pipe  P.  By 
this  means  the  valve  V  is  kept  in  rapid  vibration  and  a  power- 
ful tone  is  produced  from  the  pipe  P.  At  Middlesborough,  York- 
shire, England,  Hope-Jones  fitted  a  somewhat  similar  Diaphone 
of  16  feet  pitch  about  1899,  but  in  this  case  the  resonator  or  pipe 
was  cylindrical  in  form  and  measured  only  8  feet  in  length. 

In  Fig.  30  will  be  found  another  type  of  Diaphone  in  which 
the  tone  is  produced  through  the  medium  of  a  number  of  metal 
balls,  covering  a  series  of  holes  or  openings  into  the  bottom  of 
a  resonator  or  pipe,  and  admitting  intermittent  puffs  of  air. 

The  action  is  as  follows.  Air  under  pressure  enters  the  cham- 
ber B  through  the  pipe  foot  A,  and  passing  up  the  ports  C,  C1,  C2, 
etc.,  forces  the  metal  balls  D,  D1,  D2,  etc.,  upwards  into  the 
chamber  E ;  the  bottom  end  of  the  resonator  or  pipe.  The  pres- 
sure of  air  above  the  balls  in  the  resonator  E,  then  rises  until 
it  equals  or  nearly  equals  the  pressure  of  air  in  chamber  B.  This 
is  owing  to  the  fact  that  the  column  of  air  in  the  pipe  or  resona- 
tor E  possesses  weight  and  inertia,  and  being  elastic,  is  mo- 
mentarily compressed  at  its  lower  end.  This  increased  pressure 
above  the  balls  allows  them  to  return  to  their  original  position, 
under  the  influence  of  gravity.  By  the  time  they  have  returned 
to  their  original  position,  the  pulse  of  air  compression  has  trav- 
eled up  the  pipe  in  the  form  of  a  sound  wave,  and  the  comple- 
mentary rarefaction  follows. 

The  cycle  of  movement  will  then  be  repeated  numerous  times 
per  second,  with  the  result  that  a  very  pure  foundation  tone 
musical  note  will  be  produced. 

The  Diaphone  is  tuned  like  ordinary  flue  pipes  and  will  keep 
in  tune  with  them ;  the  pressure  of  wind  (and  consequently  the 


106  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

power  of  the  tone)  may  be  varied  without  affecting  the  pitch. 
The  form  of  the  pipe  or  resonator  affects  the  quality  of  the  tone ; 
it  may  be  flue-like  or  reedy  in  character,  or  even  imitate  a 
Pedal  Violone,  a  Hard  and  Smooth  Tuba,  an  Oboe,  or  a  Clarinet. 


In  closing  this  chapter,  the  writer  desires  to  express  his 
indebtedness  for  much  of  the  material  therein  to  the  compre- 
hensive "Dictionary  of  Organ  Stops,"  by  James  Ingall  Wedg- 
wood, Fellow  of  the  Society  of  Antiquaries,  Scotland,  and  Fellow 
of  the  Boyal  Historical  Society  (published  by  the  Vincent  Music 
Co.,  London,  England).  Although  the  title  is  somewhat  for- 
bidding, it  is  a  most  interesting  book  and  reveals  an  amount  of 
original  research  and  personal  acquaintance  with  organs  in 
England  and  the  Continent  that  is  simply  marvelous.  It  ought 
to  be  in  the  library  of  every  organist. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

TUNING. 

HAVING  described  the  improvements  in  pipes,  we  now  consider 
how  they  are  tuned,  and  the  first  thing  we  must  notice  is  the 
introduction  of  equal  temperament. 

About  fifty  years  ago  most  organs  were  so  tuned  that  the 
player  had  to  limit  himself  to  certain  key  signatures  if  his  music 
was  to  sound  at  all  pleasant.  Using  excessive  modulation  or 
wandering  into  forbidden  keys  resulted  in  his  striking  some  dis- 
cordant interval,  known  as  the  "wolf."  The  writer  remembers 
being  present  at  a  rehearsal  of  Handel's  "Messiah"  in  St. 
George's  Hall,  Liverpool,  Eng.,  in  1866,  when  the  organ  was 
tuned  on  the  unequal  temperament  system,  and  there  was  a 
spirited  discussion  between  the  conductor  and  Mr.  W.  T.  Best, 
who  wanted  the  orchestra  to  play  "Every  Valley"  in  the  key  of 
E  flat  so  as  to  be  in  better  tune  with  the  organ. 

The  modern  keyboard  is  imperfect.  One  black  key  is  made  to 
serve,  for  instance,  for  D  sharp  and  for  E  flat,  whereas  the  two 
notes  are  in  reality  not  identical.*  To  secure  correct  tuning  and 
tone  intervals  throughout,  forty-eight  keys  per  octave  are  re- 
quired, instead  of  the  twelve  now  made  to  suffice. 

In  what  is  called  the  equal  temperament  system  the  attempt  is 
made  to  divide  the  octave  into  twelve  equal  parts  or  semi-tones, 
thus  rendering  all  keys  alike.  To  do  this  it  is  necessary  to  slightly 
flatten  all  the  fifths  and  sharpen  the  major  thirds.  The  differ- 
ence from  just  intonation  is  about  one-fiftieth  of  a  semi-tone. 
Although  recommended  and  used  by  J.  S.  Bach,  equal  tempera- 
ment was  not  introduced  into  English  organs  until  1852. 


"Some  organs  have  been  made   (notably  that  in  Temple  Church,  Lon- 
don)   with  separate  keys  for  the  flats  and  sharps. 


108 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


Tuning  109 

Much  has  been  lost  by  adopting  equal  temperament,  but  more 
has  been  gained.  To  a  sensitive  ear,  the  sharp  thirds  and  fourths, 
the  flat  fifths  and  other  discordant  intervals  of  our  modern  keyed 
instrument,  are  a  constant  source  of  pain ;  but  the  average  organ- 
ist has  become  so  accustomed  to  the  defect  that  he  actually  fails 
to  notice  it! 

The  change  to  equal  temperament  has  on  the  other  hand 
greatly  increased  the  scope  of  the  organ  and  has  rendered  pos- 
sible the  performance  of  all  compositions  and  transcriptions  re- 
gardless of  key  or  modulation. 

The  tuning  of  an  organ  is  seriously  affected  by  the  temperature 
of  the  surrounding  air.  Increased  heat  causes  the  air  in  the  open 
pipes  to  expand  and  sound  sharp  contrasted  with  the  stopped 
pipes  through  which  the  air  cannot  so  freely  circulate.  The  reeds 
are  affected  differently,  the  expansion  of  their  tongues  by  heat 
causing  them  to  flatten  sufficiently  to  counteract  the  sharpening 
named  above.  Hence  the  importance  of  an  equable  temperature 
and  the  free  circulation  of  air  through  swell-boxes,  as  described 
on  page  59,  ante. 

NEW   METHOD   OF   REED   TUNING. 

Organ  reed  pipes,  especially  those  of  more  delicate  tone,  fail 
to  stand  well  in  tune,  especially  when  the  tuner  is  in  a  hurry  or 
when  he  does  not  know  enough  of  his  business  to  take  the  spring 
out  of  the  reed  wire  after  the  note  has  been  brought  into  tune. 

Few  persons  fully  understand  the  reason  why  reeds  fail  to, 
stand  in  tune  as  they  ought  to. 

Figures  31,  32,  and  33  will  serve  to  make  clear  the  chief  cause 
for  reeds  going  out  of  tune.  Figure  31  may  be  taken  to  repre- 
sent a  reed  block,  eschallot,  tongue  and  tuning  wire  at  rest. 

In  this  case  the  tuning  wire  will  be  pressing  firmly  against  the 
tongue  at  the  point  B,  but  said  tuning  wire  will  not  be  subjected 
to  any  abnormal  strain. 

Turning  to  Figure  32,  if  we  use  the  reed  knife  and  slightly 


110  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

lift  the  tuning  wire  at  the  point  C,  friction  against  the  tongue  at 
the  point  B  will  prevent  said  point  B  from  moving  upward.  (In 
this  connection  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  co-efficient  of 
friction  in  repose  is  much  greater  than  the  co-efficient  of  friction 
in  motion.) 

In  consequence  of  the  drawing  up  of  the  tuning  wire  at  point 
C,  and  the  frictional  resistance  at  point  B  holding  the  latter 
steady,  the  lower  part  of  the  tuning  wire  will  assume  the  shape 
shown  in  Figure  32,  and  point  A  will  in  consequence  move  far- 
ther away  from  the  tongue. 

Now,  if  the  reeds  be  left  in  this  state  and  the  organ  be  used 
for  any  length  of  time,  it  will  be  found  that  point  B  of  the 
tuning  wire  will  have  risen  upward  until  the  abnormal  strain 
upon  the  tuning-wire  spring  has  been  satisfied.  In  consequence 
of  this,  this  particular  note  will  be  sounding  natter  in  pitch  than 
it  ought  to  do. 

Conversely,  if  the  portion  of  the  tuning  wire  lettered  C  be 
slightly  driven  down,  as  in  Figure  33,  the  retarding  effect  of  the 
friction  of  repose  at  point  B  will  cause  the  lower  portion  of  the 
tuning  wire  to  approach  nearer  the  tongue  than  it  should  do. 

If  now  this  reed  be  left  in  this  state,  after  the  pipe  has  been 
used  for  some  time  and  the  tongue  has  been  vibrating,  it  will  be 
found  that  point  B  on  this  tuning  wire  will  have  traveled  nearer 
to  the  tip  of  the  tongue,  in  order  to  relieve  the  abnormal  strain 
upon  the  lower  portion  of  the  tuning  wire.  Point  A  will  then 
have  resumed  its  normal  position. 

In  Figures  32  and  33,  the  defective  action  of  the  lower  portion 
of  the  tuning  spring  has  been  purposely  exaggerated  in  order  to 
make  the  point  clear.  This  bending  of  the  tuning  wires,  however, 
takes  place  to  a  much  larger  extent  than  most  organ  builders 
imagine.  It  is  the  chief  reason  why  reeds  fail  to  stand  in  tune. 

When  point  A  on  the  reed  tuning  wires  is  rigidly  supported 
and  held  by  force  in  its  normal  position,  reeds  can  be  made  to 
stand  in  tune  almost  as  well  as  flue  pipes. 


Tuning  111 

Figure  34  represents  the  Hope-Jones  method  of  supporting  the 
tuning  wire  at  point  A.  It  consists  of  having  a  brass  tube  T 
inserted  in  the  block  moulds  before  the  block  is  cast.  This  tube 
T  therefore  becoming  an  integral  part  of  the  block  itself.  The 
inside  bore  of  tube  T  is  of  such  diameter  that  the  tuning  wire  fits 
snugly  therein. 

In  Figure  35  another  method  used  by  him  for  accomplishing 
the  same  purpose  is  shown.  In  this  case  a  lug  L  is  cast  upon  the 
block,  forming,  indeed,  a  portion  of  said  block.  The  lower  end 
of  lug  L  is  formed  into  a  V,  which  partly  embraces  a  tuning 
wire  and  supports  it  in  such  manner  as  to  prevent  improper 
movement  of  said  tuning  wire  at  point  A. 

When  this  method  of  construction  is  employed,  the  reeds  are 
very  much  easier  to  tune,  and,  when  once  tuned,  will  stand  infi- 
nitely better  than  reeds  made  in  the  ordinary  way. 


CHAPTER  XII. 
PROGRESS  OF  THE  E EVOLUTION  IN  OUR  OWN  COUNTRY. 

IN  the  study  of  the  art  of  organ-building  one  cannot  fail  to  be 
struck  by  the  fact  that  almost  all  the  great  steps  in  advance  have 
been  due  to  Englishmen:  the  compound  horizontal  bellows,  the 
concussion  bellows,  the  swell  box,  the  pneumatic  lever,  the  tubu- 
lar-pneumatic action,  the  electro-pneumatic  action,  the  Universal 
air  chest,  the  leathered  lip,  the  clothed  flue,  the  diaphone,  smooth 
reed  tone,  imitative  string  tone,  the  vowel  cavity,  tone  reflectors, 
cement  swell  boxes,  the  sound  trap  joint,  suitable  bass,  the  unit 
organ,  movable  console,  radiating  and  concave  pedal  board,  com- 
bination pedals,  combination  pistons  and  keys,  the  rotary  blower 
— and  many  other  items — were  the  inventions  and  work  of  Eng- 
lishmen. 

Speaking  in  general  terms,  this  country  lagged  very  far  behind 
not  only  England,  but  also  behind  France,  and  even  Germany,  in 
the  art  of  organ-building  until  comparatively  a  few  years  ago. 

It  has  recently  advanced  with  extraordinary  rapidity,  and  if 
it  be  not  yet  in  the  position  of  leader,  it  is  certainly  now  well 
abreast  of  other  nations. 

Hilborne  Roosevelt  constructed  a  number  of  beautiful  organs 
in  this  country,  beginning  his  work  about  the  year  1874.  While 
his  organs  altogether  lacked  the  impressive  dignity  of  the  best 
European  instruments  of  the  period,  they  were  marked  by  beauty 
of  finish  and  artistic  care  in  construction.  He  invented  the 
adjustable  combination  action,  and  this  forms  about  all  his  orig- 
inal contribution  destined  to  live  and  influence  the  organ  of  the 
future.  Nevertheless,  his  marks  on  organ-building  in  this  coun- 
try were  great  and  wholly  beneficial.  He  studied  the  art  in 
Europe  (especially  France)  and  introduced  into  this  country 


Progress  of  the  Revolution  in  Our  Own  Country        113 

many  features  at  that  time  practically  unknown  here.  Several 
of  the  organs  constructed  by  his  firm  are  in  use  to-day  and  are 
in  a  good  state  of  repair.  They  contain  Flutes  that  it  would  be 
hard  to  surpass,  Diapasons  that  are  bold  and  firm,  and  far  above 
the  average,  though  thought  by  some  to  lack  weight  and  dignity 
of  effect.  The  action  is  excellent  and  the  materials  employed 
and  the  care  and  workmanship  shown  throughout  cannot  be  too 
highly  praised. 

Eoosevelt  must  be  set  down  as  the  leader  of  the  revolution 
which,  by  the  introduction  of  foreign  methods,  has  in  the  last 
twenty  years  so  completely  transformed  organ-building  in  the 
United  States. 

Roosevelt  was  also  the  pioneer  in  using  electro-pneumatic  ac- 
tion here.  Accounts  had  reached  England  of  his  wonderful  organ 
in  Garden  City  Cathedral,  part  of  which  was  in  the  gallery,  part 
in  the  chancel,  part  in  the  roof,  and  part  in  the  choir  vestry  in 
the  basement.  The  author,  on  arriving  in  Philadelphia  in  1893, 
as  organist  of  St.  Clement's  Church  there,  was  anxious  to  see 
a  Roosevelt  electric  organ  and  was  invited  to  see  one  in  the 
concert  hall  of  "Stetson's  hat  factory.  He  was  shown  one  of  the 
magnets,  which  was  about  six  inches  long!  Here  is  an  account 
of  the  organ  in  Grace  Church,  New  York  City,  which  appeared 
in  the  American  Correspondence  of  the  London  Musical  News, 
February  15,  1896: 

There  are  three  organs  in  this  church  by  Roosevelt — in  the  chancel, 
in  the  west  gallery,  and  an  echo  in  the  roof,  electrically  connected  and 
playable  from  either  of  the  keyboards,  one  in  the  chancel  and  one  in 
the  gallery.  The  electric  action  is  of  an  old  and  clumsy  pattern,  oper- 
ated from  storage  batteries  filled  from  the  electric-light  main,  and  re- 
quiring constant  attention.  The  "full  organs"  and  "full  swells"  go  off 
slowly,  with  a  disagreeable  effect,  familiar  to  players  on  faulty  pneumatic 
instruments. 

This  organ  has  lately  been  entirely  rebuilt  with  new  action 
and  vastly  improved  by  Mr.  E.  M.  Skinner. 

In  1894  the  writer  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  late  Mr. 


114  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Edmund  Jardine,  who  was  then  building  a  new  organ  for  the 
Scotch  Presbyterian  Church  in  Central  Park  West,  with  an 
entirely  new  electric  action  that  had  been  invented  by  his 
nephew.  Of  course  by  this  time  Mr.  Hope-Jones'  inventions 
were  well  known  over  here,  and  Mi-.  Jardine  told  the  writer 
that  some  of  the  other  organ-builders  had  been  using  actions 
which  were  as  close  imitations  of  the  Hope-Jones  as  it  was  pos- 
sible to  get  without  infringement  of  patents.  The  Jardine  action 
seemed  to  the  writer  a  very  close  imitation  also,  and  he  can  tes- 
tify to  its  being  a  good  one,  as  he  later  on  had  nearly  three  years' 
experience  of  it  at  All  Angels'  Church. 

But  the  pioneers  had  troubles  of  their  own,  no  doubt,  caused 
by  using  too  large  and  heavy  magnets,  which  exhausted  the  bat- 
teries faster  than  the  current  could  be  produced.  The  writer 
had  this  experience  with  the  batteries  at  two  different  churches 
and  had  some  difficulty  in  getting  the  organ-builders  to  see  what 
was  the  matter.  The  steady  use  of  the  organ  for  an  hour-and- 
a-half's  choir  rehearsal  would  exhaust  the  batteries.  The  organ- 
builder  would  be  notified,  and,  on  coming  next  day,  would  not 
find  anything  the  matter,  the  batteries  having  recovered  them- 
selves in  the  interim.  Finally,  two  sets  of  batteries  were  installed 
with  a  switch  by  the  keyboard,  so  that  the  fresh  set  could  be 
brought  into  use  on  observing  signs  of  exhaustion.  Many 
churches  have  installed  small  dynamos  to  furnish  current  for 
the  key  action.  Even  in  these  cases  signs  of  weakness  are  often 
apparent — the  organist  in  playing  full  does  not  get  all  the  notes 
he  puts  down.  Same  cause  of  trouble — too  heavy  magnets.  Here 
is  where  the  Hope-Jones  action  has  the  whip-hand  over  all  others, 
all  the  current  it  requires  being  supplied  by  a  single  cell!  At 
the  writer's  churches  there  were  six  and  eight  cells.  Most  of 
the  electric  organs  erected  in  this  country,  1894-1904,  have  had 
to  be  entirely  rebuilt. 

About  the  year  1894  Ernest  M.  Skinner  (at  that  time  Super- 
intendent of  the  Hutchings  Organ  Co.,  of  Boston,  Mass.),  went 


Progress  of  the  Revolution  in  Our  Own  Country        115 

over  to  England  to  study  the  art  in  that  country.  He  was  well 
received  by  Hope- Jones,  by  Willis  and  others.  He  introduced 
many  of  the  English  inventions  into  this  country — the  movable 
console  (St.  Bartholomew's,  New  York;  Symphony  Hall,  Bos- 
ton, etc.),  increased  wind  pressure  and  the  leathered  lip  (Grace 
Church,  Plymouth  Church,  Columbia  College,  College  of  the 
City  of  New  York,  Cleveland  Cathedral,  etc.),  smooth  heavy 
pressure  reeds,  Tibias  (Philomela)  small  scale  strings,  etc.  In 
this  work  Skinner  eventually  had  the  advantage  of  Hope-Jones' 
services  as  Vice-President  of  his  own  company  and  of  the  assist- 
ance of  a  number  of  his  men  from  England. 

About  the  year  1895  Carlton  C.  Michell,  an  English  organ- 
builder,  who  had  been  associated  with  Thynne  and  with  Hope- 
Jones,  and  who  had  as  the  latter's  representative  set  up  new- 
type  organs  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  and  Taunton,  Mass.,  joined  the 
Austin  Organ  Co.,  Hartford,  Conn.  He  rapidly  introduced 
modern  string  tone  and  other  improvements  there-. 

In  1903  Hope-Jones  came  to  this  country  and  also  joined  the 
Austin  Organ  Co.  as  its  Vice-President,  whereupon  that  com- 
pany adopted  his  stop-keys,  wind  pressures,  scales,  leathered  lip, 
smooth  reeds,  orchestral  stops,  etc.  (Albany  Cathedral,  Wana- 
maker's  organ,  New  York,  the  organs  now  standing  in  the  Brook- 
lyn Academy  of  Music,  and  others.) 

In  1907  the  Hope-Jones  Organ  Co.,  Elmira,  N.  Y.,  com- 
menced the  construction  of  organs  containing  all  these  and  other 
English  improvements  (Ocean  Grove,  N.  J. ;  Buffalo  Cathedral, 
N.  Y. ;  New  Orleans,  La.,  etc.). 

The  influence  of  the  work  already  done  by  the  aforenamed 
pioneers  in  this  country  is  being  manifested  in  a  general  im- 
provement in  organ  tone  and  mechanism  throughout  the  United 
States. 

Musical  men,  hearing  the  new  tones  and  musical  effects  now 
produced,  realize  for  the  first  time  the  grandeur  and  refinement 
and  amazing  variety  of  musical  effects  that  the  organ  is  capable 


116  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

of  yielding;  on  returning  to  their  own  churches  they  are  filled 
with  "divine  discontent,"  and  they  do  not  rest  until  a  move- 
ment for  obtaining  a  new  organ,  or  at  least  modernizing  the 
old  one,  is  set  on  foot.  The  abandonment  of  old  ideas  as  to 
the  limitations  of  the  organ  is  begun,  new  ideals  are  being  set 
up,  and  a  revolution  which  will  sweep  the  whole  country  has 
now  obtained. firm  foothold. 

Until  recently  England  unquestionably  led  in  the  development 
of  the  organ,  and  Hope- Jones  led  England.  Now  that  his  genius 
is  at  work  in  this  country,  who  shall  set  limit  to  our  progress? 
Even  when  expressing  himself  through  other  firms,  his  influence 
entirely  altered  the  standard  practice  of  the  leading  builders, 
and  now,  since  direct  expression  has  been  obtained,  improvements 
have  appeared  with  even  greater  rapidity. 

It  is  the  author's  opinion  (based  on  a  wide  knowledge  of  the 
instruments  in  both  countries)  that  in  the  course  of  the  last  ten 
years  this  country  has  made  such  great  strides  in  the  art  that 
it  may  now  claim  ability  to  produce  organs  that  are  quite  equal 
to  the  best  of  those  built  in  England.  And  he  ventures  to 
prophesy  that  in  less  than  another  ten  years,  American-built 
organs  will  be  accepted  as  the  world's  highest  standard. 

At  a  banquet  given  in  his  honor  in  New  York  in  1906,  the 
late  Alexandre  Guilmant  complained  that  no  organ  that  he  had 
played  in  this  country  possessed  majesty  of  effect.  The  advent 
of  Hope-Jones  has  entirely  changed  the  situation.  Tertius 
Noble,  late  of  York  Minster,  England,  who  has  just  come  to 
this  country,  asserts  that  organs  can  be  found  here  equal  to  or 
superior  to  any  built  in  England,  and  the  celebrated  English 
organist,  Edwin  Lemare,  pronounced  the  reeds  at  Ocean  Grove, 
N.  J.,  the  finest  he  had  ever  heard. 


LI&8ARY 
Of  THE 

Of  ItUHOIb. 


CHARLES  SPACEMAN  BARKER. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
THE  CHIEF  ACTORS  IN  THE  DRAMA. 

WE  now  purpose  to  give  a  brief  account  of  the  leaders  in  revolu- 
tionizing the  King  of  Instruments,  the  men  whose  genius  and 
indomitable  perseverance  in  the  face  of  prejudice,  discourage- 
ment and  seemingly  insurmountable  obstacles,  financial  and 
otherwise,  have  made  the  modern  organ  possible.  First  of  all 
these  comes 

CHARLES  SPACEMAN  BARKER, 

who  was  born  at  Bath,  England,  on  Oct.  10,  1806.  Left  an 
orphan  when  five  years  old,  he  was  brought  up  by  his  godfather, 
who  gave  him  such  an  education  as  would  fit  him  for  the 
medical  profession,  and  he  was  in  due  time  apprenticed  to  an 
apothecary  and  druggist  in  Bath.  This  apothecary  used  to  draw 
teeth,  and  it  was  Barker's  duty  to  hold  the  heads  of  the  patients, 
whose  howls  and  screams  unnerved  him  so  that  he  refused  to 
learn  the  business  and  left  before  his  term  of  apprenticeship 
expired. 

Dr.  Hinton  does  not  credit  the  story  that  Barker,  accidentally 
witnessing  the  operations  of  an  eminent  organ-builder  (Bishop, 
of  London)  who  was  erecting  an  organ  in  his  neighborhood,  de- 
termined on  following  that  occupation,  and  placed  himself  under 
that  builder  for  instruction  in  the  art.  It  seems  to  be  admitted, 
however,  that  after  spending  most  of  the  intervening  time  in 
London,  he  returned  to  Bath  two  years  afterwards  and  estab- 
lished himself  as  an  organ-builder  there. 

About  1832  the  newly  built  large  organ  in  York  Minster  at- 
tracted general  attention,  and  Barker,  impressed  by  the  immense 
labor  occasioned  to  the  player  by  the  extreme  hardness  of  touch 


120  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

of  the  keys,  turned  his  thoughts  toward  devising  some  means 
of  overcoming  the  resistance  offered  by  the  keys  to  the  fingers. 
The  result  was  the  invention  of  the  pneumatic  lever  by  which 
ingenious  contrivance  the  pressure  of  the  wind  which  occasioned 
the  resistance  to  the  touch  was  skilfully  applied  to  lessen-  it. 
He  wrote  to  Dr.  Camidge,  then  the  organist  of  the  Cathedral, 
begging  to  be  allowed  to  attach  one  of  his  levers  in  a  temporary 
way  to  one  of  the  heaviest  notes  of  his  organ.  Dr.  Camidge 
admitted  that  the  touch  of  his  instrument  was  "sufficient  to 
paralyze  the  efforts  of  most  men,"  but  financial  difficulties  stood 
in  the  way  of  the  remedy  being  applied.  Barker  offered  his 
invention  to  several  English  organ-builders,  but  finding  them 
indisposed  to  adopt  it,  he  went  to  Paris,  in  1837,  where  he  ar- 
rived about  the  time  that  Cavaille-Coll  was  building  a  large 
organ  for  the  Church  of  St.  Denis.  M.  Cavaille-Coll  had  adopted 
the  practice  of  making  his  flue  and  reed  pipes  produce  harmonic 
tones  by  means  of  wind  of  heavy  pressure;  but  he  encountered 
difficulty  as  the  touch  became  too  heavy  for  practical  use.  Mr. 
Barker's  apparatus,  which  simply  overpowered  the  resistance  that 
could  not  be  removed,  was  therefore  an  opportune  presentation; 
he  took  out  a  brevet  d'  invention  for  it  in  1839,  and  M.  Cavaille- 
Coll  immediately  introduced  it,  together  with  several  harmonic 
stops,  into  the  St.  Denis  organ.  Besides  the  organ  of  St.  Denis, 
Barker's  pneumatic  lever  was  applied  to  those  of  St.  Koch,  La 
Madeleine,  and  other  churches  in  Paris. 

"Barker's  connection  with  Cavaille  was  not  of  long  duration, 
and  we  next  find  him  in  the  Daublaine  &  Callinet  organ-building 
company.  At  this  time  the  company  was  rebuilding  the  mag- 
nificent organ  at  St.  Sulpice,  the  acknowledged  masterpiece  of 
Cliquot,  the  French  'Father  Schmidt.'  *  *  * 

"During  the  time  this  restoration  of  the  organ  was  in  hand, 
Louis  Callinet  experienced  acute  financial  difficulties,  and,  fail- 
ing to  induce  Daublaine,  his  partner,  to  advance  him  a  relatively 
small  sum,  *  *  *  Callinet  became  so  bitterly  incensed  that  one 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  121 

day,  going  to  the  organ  on  some  trifling  pretext,  he  entirely 
wrecked  it  with  axe  and  handsaw. 

"This  act  of  vengeance  or  criminal  folly  involved  Daublaine 
in  the  same  financial  ruin  as  himself,  and  through  this  tragic 
occurrence  the  firm  in  which  Barker  was  beginning  to  he  securely 
established  came  to  an  end.  Callinet,  being  absolutely  penniless, 
was  not  prosecuted,  but  ended  his  days  in  the  employ  of  Cavaille 
as  voicer  and  tuner. 

"Nor  was  this  the  only  disaster  which  occurred  during  the 
time  Barker  was  with  Daublaine  &  Callinet.  In  1844  (Decem- 
ber 16th),  it  was  Barker's  ill-fortune  to  kick  over  a  lighted 
candle  while  trying  to  remove  a  cipher  in  the  organ  his  firm 
had  recently  erected  in  St.  Eustache,  which  occasioned  the  total 
destruction  of  the  organ.  *  *  * 

"The  outlook  seemed  unpromising  for  Barker  when  the  firm 
of  Daublaine  &  Callinet  came  to  an  end.  The  good  will  of  that 
concern  was,  however,  purchased  by  M.  Ducroquet  (a  capitalist), 
who  entrusted  him  with  its  management. 

"J.  B.  Stoltz,  Daublaine  &  Callinet's  foreman,  a  very  able  man 
and  a  splendid  workman,  feeling  aggrieved  at  Barker's  promotion, 
seceded  and  set  up  for  himself,  his  place  in  the  new  firm  being 
filled  by  M.  Verschneider,  in  whom  Barker  found  efficient  sup- 
port in  matters  of  technical  knowledge  and  skill. 

"During  the  time  Barker  was  with  M.  Ducroquet  the  present 
organ  at  St.  Eustache  was  built,  to  replace  that  so  unfortunately 
destroyed  by  fire ;  also  an  organ  which  was  exhibited  at  the  great 
exhibition  of  London  in  1851.  *  *  * 

"In  the  Paris  exhibition  of  1855  Barker  was  admitted  as  an 
exhibitor,  independently  of  M.  Ducroquet  (who  was  in  bad  health 
and  on  the  eve  of  retiring  from  business),  obtaining  a  first-class 
medal  and  nomination  as  Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor. 

"At  the  death  of  M.  Ducroquet,  which  occurred  shortly  after- 
wards, Merklin  took  over  the  business  carried  on  by  Ducroquet, 
and  Barker  remained  with  him  until  1860,  when  he  set  up  on 


122  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

his  own  account  in  partnership  with  M.  Verschneider,  before 
named,  and  it  was  during  the  decade  1860-70  that  the  electric 
organ  came  into  being/5 

The  story  of  Dr.  Peschard's  invention  has  been  already  set 
forth  in  this  book  (see  page  37).  Barker  seems  to  have  been 
somewhat  jealous  of  him  and  always  described  the  action  as 
"Pneumato-electrique,"  objecting  to  the  term  "Electro-pneu- 
matic," although  this  was  putting  the  cart  before  the  horse.  Dr. 
Hinton  says :  "Though  I  was  much  in  touch  with  Barker  during 
part  of  his  brief  period  of  activity  in  electric  work,  Peschard's 
name  was  rarely  mentioned  and  carried  little  meaning  to  me. 
I  did  not  know  if  Peschard  were  a  living  or  a  dead  scientist,  and 
if  I  (a  mere  youth  at  the  time)  ever  thought  of  him,  it  was  as 
being  some  kind  of  bogie  Barker  had  to  conciliate." 

Bryceson  Brothers,  of  London,  exhibited  an  organ  at  the  Paris 
Exposition  Universelle  in  the  Champ  de  Mars  in  1867,  on  which 
daily  recitals  were  given  by  Mons.  A.  L.  Tamplin,  who  induced 
Mr.  Henry  Bryceson  to  visit  the  electric  organ  then  being  erected 
in  the  Church  of  St.  Augustin.  Mr.  Bryceson,  being  convinced 
that  this  was  the  action  of  the  future,  lost  no  time  in  investi- 
gating the  system  thoroughly,  and  arranged  with  Barker  for  the 
concession  of  the  sole  rights  of  his  invention  as  soon  as  he  should 
obtain  his  English  patent,  which  he  got  in  the  following  year. 
Barker,  however,  repented  him  of  his  bargain,  and  the  exclusive 
rights  were  eventually  waived  by  the  Brycesons,  although  they 
retained  the  right  to  use  the  patent  themselves.  They  made 
considerable  improvements  on  Barker's  action,  the  chief  defects 
of  which  seem  to  have  been  the  resistance  of  the  pallets  (which 
had  to  be  plucked  from  their  seats;  he  did  not  even  use  the 
split  pallet)  and  the  cost  of  maintenance  of  the  batteries,  which 
rapidly  deteriorated  from  the  action  of  the  powerful  acids  em- 
ployed. A*  full  description  and  drawing  of  Peschard's  and  Bar- 
ker's action  will  be  found  in  Dr.  Hinton's  "Story  of  the  Electric 
Organ." 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  123 

This  same  Paris  Exposition  of  1867  is  also  responsible  for  the 
introduction  of  tubular-pneumatic  action  into  England  by  Henry 
Willis.  He  there  saw  the  organ  by  Fermis  which  induced  him  to 
take  up  that  mechanism  and  develop  it  to  its  present  perfection. 

The  Franco-Prussian  War  of  1870  drove  Barker  from  Paris, 
his  factory  was  destroyed  in  the  bombardment,  and  thus  at  the 
age  of  64  he  was  again  cast  adrift.  He  came  to  England  and 
found,  on  attempting  to  take  out  a  patent  for  his  pneumatic 
lever,  that  all  the  organ-builders  were  using  what  they  had 
formerly  despised ! 

He  succeeded,  however,  in  obtaining  the  contract  for  a  new 
organ  for  the  Eoman  Catholic  Cathedral  in  Dublin,  Ireland, 
and  it  was  arranged  that  he  should  receive  a  certain  sum  in 
advance,  and  a  monthly  allowance  up  to  the  amount  of  the  esti- 
mated cost  of  the  instrument.  He  seems  to  have  had  trouble  in 
obtaining  expert  workmen  and  only  succeeded  in  getting  a  motley 
crowd  of  Frenchmen,  Germans,  Dutch  and  Americans.  They 
spoke  so  many  different  languages  that  a  Babel-like  confusion 
resulted.  Hilborne  Roosevelt,  the  great  American  organ-builder, 
was  at  that  time  in  Europe,  and  in  response  to  Barker's 
earnest  entreaty,  came  to  Dublin  incognito,,  so  as  not  to  detract 
from  Barker's  reputation  as  the  builder.  Roosevelt's  direc- 
rection  and  advice  were  most  invaluable,  being  moreover 
given  in  the  most  chivalrous  and  generous  spirit;  but,  not- 
withstanding this  and  the  excellent  material  of  which  the  organ 
was  constructed,  the  result  was  anything  but  an  artistic  or  finan- 
cial success. 

Barker  built  an  organ  for  the  Roman  Catholic  Cathedral  at 
Cork,  which  was  no  better,  and  this  was  his  last  work.  These 
misfortunes  culminated  in  an  appeal  to  his  countrymen  for 
subscriptions  on  his  behalf  in  the  musical  papers.  In  his  old  age 
he  had  married  the  eighteen-year-old  daughter  of  M.  Ougby,  his 
late  foreman.  He  died  at  Maidstone,  Eng.,  November  26,  1879. 

This  sketch  of  Barker's  career  is  taken  partly  from  Grove's 


124  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Dictionary  of  Music,  from  Hopkins  and  Bimbault's  History,  and 
from  Dr.  Hinton's  "Story  of  the  Electric  Organ."  The  para- 
graphs within  quotation  marks  are  verbatim  from  this  book  by 
kind  permission  of  Dr.  Hinton,  whom  we  have  to  thank  also  for 
the  portrait  of  Barker  which  appears  on  another  page. 

AEISTIDE  CAVAILLE-COLL. 

The  following  sketch  of  the  life  of  this  eminent  artist  is  taken  from 
Dr.  Be"dart's  forthcoming  book  on  "Cavaille'-Coll  and  His  Times,"  arid 
from  Le  Monde  Musical,  of  Paris,  October  30,  1899,  translated  by  Mr. 
Robert  F.  Miller,  of  Boston.  The  portrait  is  from  the  same  magazine. 

Aristide  Cavaille-Coll  was  born  at  Montpellier,  France,  on  the 
4th  day  of  February,  1811.  He  was  the  son  of  Dominique 
Cavaille-Coll,  who  was  well  known  as  an  organ-builder  in  Lan- 
guedoc,  and  grandson  of  Jean  Pierre  Cavaille,  the  builder  of  the 
organs  of  Saint  Catherine  and  Merci  of  Barcelona.  The  name 
of  Coll  was  that  of  his  grandmother.  If  we  should  go  back  fur- 
ther we  find  at  the  commencement  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  at 
Gaillac  three  brothers — Cavaille-Gabriel,  the  father  of  Jean 
Pierre:  Pierre,  and  Joseph,  who  also  was  an  organ-builder. 
Aristide  Cavaille,  therefore,  came  honestly  by  his  profession  and 
at  the  age  of  18  years  was  entrusted  by  his  father  to  direct  the 
construction  of  the  organ  at  Lerida,  in  which  he  introduced  for 
the  first  time  the  manual  to  pedal  coupler  and  the  system  of 
counter-balances  in  the  large  wind  reservoirs. 

In  1834  Aristide,  realizing  the  necessity  of  cultivating  his 
knowledge  of  physics  and  mechanics,  went  to  Paris,  where  he 
became  the  pupil  of  Savart  and  of  Cagnard-Latour.  The  same 
year  a  competition  was  opened  for  the  construction  of  a  large 
organ  in  the  royal  church  of  St.  Denis;  Aristide  submitted  his 
plan  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  contract.  This  success  de- 
cided the  Messrs.  Cavaille  to  remove  their  organ  factory  to  Paris, 
where  they  established  themselves  in  the  Eue  Neuve  St.  George. 
On  account  of  repairs  being  made  to  the  church  building,  the 


AEISTIDE  CAVAILLE-COLL. 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  127 

organ  of  St.  Denis  was  not  finished  until  1841,,  but  it  showed 
improvements  of  great  importance,  first  and  foremost  of  which 
was  the  Barker  pneumatic  lever  (see  ante,  page  120).  The  wind 
pressure  was  on  a  new  system,  whereby  increased  pressure  was 
applied  to  the  upper  notes,  giving  more  regularity  of  tone  to  each 
stop.  The  wind  reservoirs  were  provided  with  double  valves, 
insuring  a  more  steady  supply,  whether  all  the  stops  were  played 
together  or  separately.  The  introduction  of  Harmonic  stops  was 
practically  an  innovation,  as  their  use  hitherto  had  been  almost 
prohibited  by  the  difficulty  of  playing  on  a  high  wind  pressure 
(see  ante,  page  21).  This  enriched  the  organ  with  a  new  group 
of  stops  of  a  superior  quality  on  account  of  the  roundness  and 
volume  of  sound. 

In  1840  Cavaille-Coll  submitted  to  the  Academie  des  Sciences 
the  result  of  his  experimental  studies  of  organ  pipes;  on  the 
normal  tone  of  the  organ  and  its  architecture;  the  length  of 
pipes  in  regard  to  intonation  and  precision  in  blowing.  He 
made  many  experiments  and  improvements  in  wind  supply.  He 
was  also  the  inventor  of  "Poikilorgue,"  an  expressive  organ, 
which  was  the  origin  of  the  harmonium. 

Between  1834  and  1898  he  built  upward  of  700  organs,  in- 
cluding Saint  Sulpice,  Notre  Dame,  Saint  Clotilde,  la  Made- 
leine, le  Trocadero,  Saint  Augustin,  Saint  Vincent  de  Paul,  la 
Trinite  (all  in  Paris) ;  Saint  Ouen  at  Eouen,  Saint  Sernin  at 
Toulouse;  the  Cathedrals  at  Nancy,  Amsterdam,  and  Moscow; 
the  Town  Halls  of  Sheffield  and  Manchester,  England.  The 
most  celebrated  of  these  is  Saint  Sulpice,  which  contains  118 
stops  and  was  opened  in  April  29,  1862.* 

The  fine  period  of  Cavaille-Coll  was  during  the  Empire, 
about  1850.  The  Emperor  Napoleon  III,  to  flatter  the  clergy 


*Dr.  W.  C.  Carl,  of  New  York,  who  is  well  acquainted  with  these 
instruments,  considers  the  one  in  Notre  Dame  to  be  better  than  St. 
Sulpice  and  more  representative  of  Cavaill6-CoH's  work,  even  if  a  little 
smaller.  We  therefore  give  that  specification,  page  157. 


128  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

and  the  bishops,  ordered  the  Cathedral  organs  to  be  rebuilt,  and 
gave  the  order  to  Cavaille-Coll.  He  in  many  instances  preserved 
the  old  soundboards,  dividing  them  on  two  ventils  for  reeds  and 
for  flues,  increased  the  wind  pressures,  introduced  pneumatic 
levers,  and  transformed  the  small  Tenor  C  Swells  into  large 
15  to  20  stop  Swells,  with  16-foot  reeds  included,  and  so  crowned 
the  fine  flue  work  and  mixture  work  of  these  Cathedral  organs. 

We  all  know  the  fine  effect  of  a  large  Swell.  The  French 
Cathedral  organs  were  deprived  of  this  tonal  resonance  in  1850, 
and  Cavaille-Coll,,  by  judicious  overhauling,  use  of  good  mate- 
rials, and  by  the  addition  of  large  Swells,  transformed  the  so- 
nority of  these  large  instruments  located  in  splendid  positions 
above  the  grand  west  entrance  doors  of  these  fine  Gothic  build- 
ings. 

Cavaille-Coll,  during  his  long  career,  received  from  the  Uni- 
versal Expositions  the  highest  honors.  He  was  appointed  a 
Chevalier  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  in  1849,  and  officer  of  the 
same  order  in  1878.  He  was  also  Honorary  President  of  the 
Chamber  of  Syndicates  of  Musical  Instruments. 

Much  enfeebled  by  age,  he  in  1898  relinquished  the  direction 
of  his  factories  to  one  of  his  best  pupils,  M.  Charles  Mutin,  who 
has  never  ceased  to  maintain  the  high  integrity  of  the  house. 

Aristide  Cavaille-Coll  died  peacefully  and  without  suffering 
on  October  13,  1899,  in  his  89th  year.  He  was  interred  with 
military  honors.  A  simple  service  was  held  at  Saint  Sulpice 
and  M.  Charles  Widor  played  once  more,  for  the  last  time  to 
the  illustrious  constructor,  the  grand  organ  which  was  the  most 
beautiful  conception  of  his  life. 


We  have  in  the  course  of  our  review  mentioned  some  of 
Cavaille-ColPs  principal  contributions  to  the  progress  of  organ- 
building,  his  development  of  harmonic  stops  and  use  of  increased 
wind  pressures.  Mr.  W.  T.  Best,  in  1888,  in  a  report  to  the 
Liverpool  Philharmonic  Society  as  to  the  purchase  of  a  new 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  129 

organ  for  their  Hall,  recommended  Cavaille-Coll  as  "the  best 
producer  of  pure  organ  tone"  at  that  time.  Next  to  him  he 
placed  T.  C.  Lewis  &  Sons,  then  W.  Hill  &  Son. 

But  the  organists  of  the  world  have  to  thank  Cavaille-Coll 
chiefly  for  the  assistance  he  gave  Barker  in  developing  the  pneu- 
matic lever,  without  which  the  present  tonal  system  with  its 
heavy  wind  pressures  would  have  been  impossible  of  attainment. 

"Blest  be  the  man,"  said  Sancho  Panza,  "who  first  invented 
sleep !  And  what  a  mercy  he  did  not  keep  the  discovery  to  him- 
self I"  Joseph  Booth,  of  Wakefield,  England,  put  what  he  called 
a  "puff  bellows"  to  assist  the  Pedal  action  in  the  organ  of  a 
church  at  Atterclift'e,  near  Sheffield,  in  1827.  But  he  kept  the 
invention  to  himself,  and  it  only  came  to  light  24  years  after 
his  death !  Note  on  the  other  hand  the  perseverance  of  Barker. 
For  five  weary  years  he  kept  on  trying  one  builder  after  an- 
other to  take  up  his  idea  without  avail,  and  then  took  it  be- 
yond the  seas.  Which  reminds  us  of  the  Eev.  William  Lee,  the 
inventor  of  the  stocking-knitting  frame  in  the  time  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  whose  countrymen  "despised  him  and  discouraged 
his  invention.  *  *  *  Being  soon  after  invited  over  to  France, 
with  promises  of  reward,  privileges  and  honor  by  Henry  IV 
*  *  *  he  went,  with  nine  workmen  and  as  many  frames,  to 
Eouen,  in  Normandy,  where  he  wrought  with  great  applause." 
Thus  does  history  repeat  itself. 

HENRY  WILLIS. 

The  following  sketch  of  the  greatest  organ-builder  of  the 
Victorian  Era  has  been  condensed  from  an  interview  with  him 
as  set  forth  in  the  London  Musical  Times  for  May,  1898. 

Henry  Willis  was  born  in  London  on  April  27,  1821.  His 
father  was  a  builder,  a  member  of  the  choir  of  Old  Surrey  Chapel, 
and  played  the  drums  in  the  Cecilian  Amateur  Orchestral  So- 


130  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

ciety.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  began  to  play  the  organ  at  a 
very  early  age ;  he  was  entirely  self-taught  and  never  had  a  lesson 
in  his  life. 

In  1835,  when  he  was  fourteen  years  of  age,,  he  was  articled 
for  seven  years  to  John  Gray  (afterwards  Gray  &  Davidson),, 
the  organ-builder.  During  his  apprenticeship  he  invented  the 
special  manual  and  pedal  couplers  which  he  used  in  all  his 
instruments  for  over  sixty  years.  He  had  to  tune  the  organ  in 
St.  George's  Chapel,  Windsor,  where  he  made  the  acquaintance 
of  Sir  George  Elvey,  who  took  a  great  fancy  to  the  boy  tuner. 

While  still  "serving  his  time"  and  before  he  was  out  of  his 
teens,  Henry  Willis  was  appointed  organist  of  Christ  Church, 
Hoxton.  In  the  early  fifties  he  was  organist  of  Hampstead 
Parish  Church,  where  he  had  built  a  new  organ,  and  for  nearly 
thirty  years  he  was  organist  at  Islington,  Chapel-of-Ease,  which 
post  he  only  resigned  after  he  had  passed  the  Psalmist's  "three 
score  years  and  ten."  In  spite  of  the  engrossing  claims  of  his 
business,  Mr.  Willis  discharged  his  duties  as  organist  with  com- 
mendable faithfulness;  he  would  often  travel  150  miles  on  a 
Saturda}^  in  order  to  be  present  at  the  Sunday  services.  In  his 
younger  days  he  also  played  the  double-bass  and  played  at  the 
provincial  Musical  Festivals  of  1871  and  1874. 

After  his  apprenticeship  expired  he  lived  in  Cheltenham  for 
three  years,  where  he  assisted  an  organ-builder  named  Evans, 
who  afterwards  became  known  as  a  manufacturer  of  free  reed 
instruments.  They  produced  a  model  of  a  two-manual  free  reed 
instrument  with  two  octaves  and  a  half  of  pedals  which  was 
exhibited  at  Novello's,  in  London.  Here  Willis  met  the  cele- 
brated organist,  Samuel  Sebastian  Wesley. 

About  the  year  1847  Henry  Willis  started  in  business  for 
himself  as  an  organ-builder,  and  his  first  great  success  was  in 
rebuilding  the  organ  in  Gloucester  Cathedral.  "It  was  my  step- 
ping-stone to  fame,"  he  says.  "The  Swell,  down  to  double  C, 
had  twelve  stops  and  a  double  Venetian  front.  The  pianissimo 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  133 

was  simply  astounding.  I  received  £400  for  the  job,  and  I  was 
presumptuous  enough  to  marry." 

For  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851  in  the  Crystal  Palace  (then 
in  Hyde  Park),  Mr.  Willis  erected  a  magnificent  organ  which 
attracted  extraordinary  attention  and  was  visited  by  the  Queen 
and  Prince  Consort.  It  had  three  manuals  and  pedals,  seventy 
sounding  stops  and  seven  couplers.  There  were  twenty-two  stops 
on  the  Swell,  and  the  Swell  bellows  was  placed  inside  the  Swell 
box.  The  manual  compass  extended  to  G  in  altissimo  and  the 
pedals  from  CCC  to  G — 32  notes.  There  were  other  important 
features  in  this  remarkable  instrument  which  went  a  long  way 
towards  revolutionizing  the  art  of  organ-building.  First,  the 
introduction  of  pistons,  inserted  between  the  key-slips,  which 
replaced  the  clumsy  composition  pedals  then  in  vogue.  Again, 
to  use  Mr.  Willis'  own  words,  "that  Exhibition  organ  was  the 
great  pioneer  of  the  improved  pneumatic  movement.  A  child 
could  play  the  keys  with  all  the  stops  drawn.  It  never  went 
wrong." 

This  organ  was  afterwards  re-erected  in  Winchester  Cathedral 
in  1852,  and  was  in  constant  use  for  forty  years  before  being 
renovated.  It  was  also  the  means  of  procuring  Willis  the  order 
for  the  organ  in  St.  George's  Hall,  Liverpool.  "The  Town  Clerk 
of  Liverpool  wrote  to  me,"  said  Mr.  Willis,  "to  the  effect  that 
a  committee  of  the  Corporation  would  visit  the  Exhibition  on  a 
certain  day  at  6  A.  MV  their  object  being  to  test  the  various  organs 
with  a  view  to  selecting  a  builder  for  the  proposed  new  instru- 
ment in  St.  George's  Hall.  He  asked  me  if  I  could  be  there.  I 
was  there — all  there !  The  other  two  competing  builders,  X  and 
Z,  in  anticipation  of  the  visit,  tuned  their  organs  in  the  afternoon 
of  the  previous  day,  with  the  result  that,  owing  to  the  abnormal 
heat  of  the  sun  through  the  glass  roof,  the  reeds  were  not  fit  to 
be  heard!  I  said  nothing.  At  five  o'clock  on  the  following 
morning  my  men  and  I  were  there  to  tune  the  reeds  of  my  organ 
in  the  cool  of  the  morning  of  that  lovely  summer's  day.  At 


134  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

six  o'clock  the  Liverpool  committee,  which  included  the  Mayor 
and  the  Town  Clerk  in  addition  to  S.  S.  Wesley  and  T.  A. 
Walmisley,  their  musical  advisers,  duly  appeared.  Messrs.  X  and 
Z  had  specially  engaged  two  eminent  organists  to  play  for  them. 
I  retained  nobody.  But  I  had  previously  said  to  Best,  who 
had  given  several  recitals  on  my  organ  at  the  Exhibition,  'It 
would  not  be  half  a  bad  plan  if  you  would  attend  to-morrow 
morning  at  six  o'clock,  as  you  usually  do  for  practice.'  Best 
'was  there.  After  the  two  other  organs  had  been  tried,  the  Town 
Clerk  came  up  and  said :  'We  have  come  to  hear  your  organ,  Mr. 
Willis.  Are  you  going  to  play  it  yourself?'  I  said,  'There's 
one  of  your  own  townsmen  standing  there  (that  was  Best)  ; 
ask  him.'  He  did  ask  him.  'Mr.  Best  has  no  objection  to  play,' 
said  the  Town  Clerk,  'but  he  wants  five  guineas !'  'Well,  give  it 
to  him;  the  Corporation  can  well  afford  it.'  The  matter  was 
arranged.  Best  played  the  overture  to  'Jessonda'  by  Spohr,  and 
it  was  a  splendid  performance."  The  organ  was  quite  a  reve- 
lation to  the  Liverpudlians,  and  after  talking  it  over  in  private 
for  twenty  minutes  the  committee  decided  to  recommend 
Willis  to  the  Council  to  build  the  organ  in  St.  George's  Hall. 
He  had,  however,  serious  differences  with  Dr.  S.  S.  Wesley,  who 
wanted  both  the  manuals  and  pedals  to  begin  at  GG.  "I  gave 
in  to  him  in  regard  to  the  manuals,"  said  Mr.  Willis,  "but  I  said, 
'unless  you  have  the  pedal  compass  to  C,  I  shall  absolutely  decline 
to  build  your  organ.' ';  And  so  the  matter  was  compromised. 
But  Willis  lived  to  see  the  manual  compass  of  his  magnificent 
Liverpool  organ  changed  to  CC  (in  1898).  When  the  organ  was 
finished  he  recommended  that  Best  should  be  appointed  organist, 
although  Dr.  Wesley  officiated  at  the  opening  ceremony  in  1855. 
Not  only  did  Willis  practically  get  Best  appointed  to  Liverpool, 
but  he  had  previously  coached  him  up  in  his  playing  of  over- 
tures and  other  arrangements  for  the  organ.  "I  egged  him  on," 
said  the  veteran  organ-builder,  and  we  all  know  with  what  re- 
sults. Notwithstanding  all  that  Best  owed  to  Willis,  he  quarreled 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  135 

with  him  violently  towards  the  close  of  his  career  over  the  care 
of  the  St.  George's  Hall  organ.  As  Best  told  the  writer,  "not 
because  Willis  could  not,  but  because  he  would  not"  do  certain 
things  in  the  way  of  repairs,  that  he  claimed  did  not  come  under 
his  contract.  This  led  to  the  care  of  the  organ  being  transferred 
to  T.  C.  Lewis  &  Sons,  but  it  was  given  back  to  Willis  after 
Best's  death. 

Mr.  Willis  gained  a  wide  and  deservedly  high  reputation  as 
the  builder  of  many  Cathedral  organs — upwards  of  sixteen.  His 
largest  instrument  is  that  in  the  Eoyal  Albert  Hall,  London. 
He  designed  it  entirely  himself;  he  had  not  to  compete  for  the 
building  of  it,  but  had  carte  blanche  in  regard  to  every  detail. 

There  was  an  amusing  incident  in  connection  with  deciding 
upon  the  pitch  of  the  instrument.  The  authorities  arranged 
that  Sir  Michael  Costa,  Mr.  E.  K.  Bowley,  then  general  manager 
of  the  Crystal  Palace,  and  some  of  the  leading  wind-instrument 
players  of  the  day,  including  Lazarus  (a  famous  clarinetist), 
should  attend  at  the  factory  to  settle  the  question  of  the  pitch 
of  the  organ.  "They  also  brought  a  violinist,"  said  Mr.  Willis ; 
"but  I  couldn't  see  what  a  fiddler,  who  is  a  very  useful  man  in 
his  way,  had  to  do  with  settling  the  pitch.  (I  should  tell  you," 
added  Mr.  Willis,  sotto  voce,  "that  /  had  formulated  some  idea 
of  the  proper  pitch  before  these  gentlemen  arrived.)  However, 
we  duly  proceeded,  Costa  presiding  over  the  conclave.  When 
they  began  to  blow  into  their  different  instruments  each  man  had 
a  different  pitch !  It  was  a  regular  pandemonium !  By  and  by 
we  settled  upon  something  which  was  considered  satisfactory, 
and  we  bade  each  other  good  morning."  The  sequel  need  not 
be  told.  We  leave  it  to  our  readers  to  draw  their  own  conclu- 
sions as  to  whether  the  Royal  Albert  Hall  organ  was  actually 
tuned  to  the  pitch  of  Messrs.  Costa,  Bowley,  Lazarus  &  Co.,  or 
to  that  previously  decided  upon  by  Mr.  Willis. 

He  erected  two  large  organs  for  the  Alexandra  Palace,  and  one 
in  Windsor  Castle  with  two  keyboards^  one  in  St,  George's 


136  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

and  one  in  His  Majesty's  Private  Chapel,  whereby  the  instru- 
ment is  available  for  use  in  both  places. 

It  was  entirely  owing  to  Willis'  dominating  personality  that 
the  organ  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  was  rebuilt  in  its  present 
form.  He  had  the  old  screen  taken  down  and  the  old  organ  case, 
which  happened  to  be  alike  on  both  sides,  he  cut  in  two  and 
re-erected  on  each  side  of  the  choir.  The  change  also  involved 
the  removal  of  the  statues  of  Lord  Nelson  and  Lord  Cornwallis. 
When  one  of  the  committee  asked  him  if  he  proposed  to  have  two 
organists  for  his  divided  organ,  he  replied,  "You  leave  that  to 
me."  And  proceeded  to  invent*  his  tubular  pneumatic  action 
(see  page  25).  When  this  organ  was  used  for  the  first  time  at 
the  Thanksgiving  service  for  the  recovery  of  the  Prince  of  Wales 
from  typhoid  fever  in  1872,  the  pneumatic  action  for  the  pedals 
was  not  finished.  Willis  rigged  up  a  temporary  pedal  board 
inside  the  organ  near  the  pedal  pipes  and  played  the  pedal 
part  of  the  service  music  himself  while  George  Cooper  was  at 
the  keys  in  the  regions  above.  After  the  service  Goss  said  to 
Ousley,  who  was  present,  "What  do  you  think  of  the  pedal 
organ?"  "Magnificent!"  replied  the  Oxford  Professor.  "You 
know  that  the  pipes  are  a  long  way  off;  did  the  pedals  seem  to 
go  exactly  together  with  the  manuals  ?"  Goss  asked.  "Perfectly," 
replied  Ousley,  "but  why  do  you  ask  me  in  that  way?"  Then 
Goss  let  out  the  secret — for  it  was  really  a  great  secret  at  the 
time. 

Willis'  great  hobby  was  yachting.  He  owned  a  54-ton  yacht 
named  the  Opal,  and  attributed  the  wonderful  health  he  enjoyed 
to  his  numerous  sea  voyages.  "I  have  circumnavigated  the  whole 
of  England  and  Scotland,"  he  said,  "and  I  am  my  own  captain. 
Those  two  men  over  there"  (pointing  to  two  of  his  employees 
working  in  the  factory)  "are  my  steward  and  shipwright.  The 


*Exhaust  tubular  pneumatic  had  been  practically  applied  in  France  as 
early  as  1849  -and  pressure  tubular  pneumatic  in  1867.     See  page  23. 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  137 

steward  is  a  fisherman — a  fisherman  being  very  useful  as  a 
weather  prophet.  *  *  *  I  do  all  the  repairs  to  the  yacht  myself 
and  have  re-coppered  her  bottom  two  or  three  times.  I  also  put 
entirely  new  spars  into  her,  and  there  stands  her  old  mast.  Some 
years  ago  I  injured  the  third  and  fourth  fingers  of  both  my 
hands  with  the  ropes  passing  through  them.  These  four  fingers 
became  bent  under,  and  for  a  long  time  I  had  to  play  my  services 
with  only  the  thumb  and  two  fingers  of  each  hand.  But  Dr. 
Macready,  a  very  clever  surgeon,  begged  me  to  allow  him  to 
operate  on  my  disabled  fingers,  with  the  result  that  I  can  use 
them  as  of  old,  or  nearly  so." 

Henry  Willis  died  in  London  on  February  11,  1900,  in  his 
80th  year,  deeply  mourned  by  all  who  knew  him,  and  was  interred 
in  Highgate  cemetery.  In  the  course  of  this  work  we  have  re- 
ferred to  the  many  improvements  he  effected  in  organ  construc- 
tion and  reed  voicing.  As  Sir  George  Grove  said,  his  organs  are 
celebrated  for  "their  excellent  engineering  qualities."  Clever, 
ingenious,  dauntless  and  resourceful — qualities  blended  together 
with  a  plentiful  supply  of  sound  judgment  and  good  common 
sense — were  some  of  the  striking  characteristics  of  this  remark- 
able man.  He  gave  his  personal  attention  to  every  department  of 
his  factory;  nothing  was  too  insignificant  to  claim  his  notice; 
his  thoroughness  was  extraordinary — every  pipe  went  through 
his  hands.  An  organist  himself,  he  was  always  thinking  of  the 
player  in  laying  out  his  instruments.  He  had  a  remarkably  in- 
ventive genius,  which  he  turned  to  good  account  in  the  mechani- 
cal portions  of  his  organs.  He  took  infinite  pains  with  every- 
thing and  his  enthusiasm  knew  no  bounds.  But,  above  all,  he 
possessed  in  a  striking  degree  that  attribute  which  a  similar  suc- 
cessful worker  once  aptly  described  as  "obstinate  perseverance." 
He  had  a  strong  aversion  to  newspaper  men  and  sent  them  away 
without  ceremony.  While  free  from  conceit,  he  was  not  always 
amenable  to  dictation,  especially  when  he  had  disputes  with 
architects — in  which  the  architects  were  generally  worsted. 


138  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

He  regarded  his  organ  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  (rebuilt  in 
1899),  as  his  magnum  opus.  "There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the 
world/'  he  remarked,  with  pardonable  pride,  one  Saturday  when 
Sir  George  Martin  was  playing  that  kingly  king  of  instruments, 
To  paraphrase  the  inscription  on  Purcell's  monument  in  West- 
minster Abbey : — 

"He  has  gone  where  only  his  own  Harmony  can  be  excelled," 

leaving  behind  him  many  noble  specimens  of  his  remarkable 
achievements. 

ROBERT  HOPE-JONES. 

Robert  is  the  third  son  of  the  late  William  Hope-Jones,  of 
Hooton  Grange,  Cheshire,  England. 

His  father,  a  man  of  means,  was  prominent  as  one  of  the 
pioneers  in  organizing  the  volunteer  army  of  Great  Britain.  He 
was  musical,  playing  the  cornet  and  having  an  unusual  tenor 
voice.  His  mother  (Agnes  Handforth) — also  musical  and  a 
gifted  singer — was  a  daughter  of  the  Rector  of  Ashton-under- 
Lyne,  Lancashire, — a  highly  nervous  woman. 

There  were  nine  children  of  the  marriage — two  girls  and 
seven  boys.  Robert  appeared  on  the  ninth  of  February,  1859. 
He  inherited  in  exaggerated  degree  his  mother's  highly  strung 
nervous  nature.  Melancholy,  weak  and  sickly  as  a  child,  he  was 
not  expected  to  live.  To  avoid  the  damp  and  cold  of  English 
winters  he  was  periodically  taken  to  the  south  of  France.  Deemed 
too  delicate  for  school,  a  private  tutor  was  provided.  Joining  in 
sports  or  games  was  out  of  the  question  for  so  sensitive  and 
delicate  a  youth, — what  more  natural,  therefore,  than  that  he 
should  become  a  dreamer — a  thinker  ?  Too  ill  for  any  real  study, 
his  musical  instincts  drove  him  to  the  organ,  and  we  find  him 
playing  for  occasional  services  at  Eastham  Parish  Church  at  the 
age  of  nine.  After  his  father's  death,  when  he  was  about  four- 
teen, he  spent  a  couple  of  years  in  irregular  attendance  at  school, 


LIBRARY 

Of  THE 

UNIVERSITY  Of  \UtNOlS 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  141 

and  at  the  time. of  his  confirmation  was  persuaded  that  by  super- 
human effort  6£  will  his  physical  disabilities  might  be  disregarded 
and  a  life  of  some  value  be  worked  out.  Then  began  the  des- 
perate struggle  that  gradually  overcame  every  obstruction  and 
resulted  in  the  establishment  of  an  iron  will  and  determination 
to  succeed  that  no  misfortunes  have  been  able  to  quell.  His  want 
of  health  greatly  interfered  with  his  career  till  he  was  nearly 
thirty  years  of  age. 

When  fifteen  he  became  voluntary  organist  and  choir-master 
to  the  Birkenhead  School  Chapel.  Two  or  three  years  later 
he  simultaneously  held  a  similar  office  at  St.  Luke's  Church, 
Tranmere,  where  he  trained  a  boy  choir  that  became  widely 
celebrated.  For  this  Church  he  bought  and  set  up  a  fine  organ. 
He  subsequently  served  as  Churchwarden  and  was  active  in  many 
other  Church  offices.  He  erected  an  organ  in  the  Claughton 
Music  Hall  and  organized  and  conducted  oratorio  performances 
in  aid  of  various  Church  funds;  training  a  large  voluntary 
chorus  and  orchestra  for  the  purpose.  For  Psalms  whose  verses 
are  arranged  in  groups  of  three,  he  wrote  what  he  called  "triple 
chants" — a  form  of  composition  since  adopted  by  other  Church 
writers;  he  also  composed  Canticles,  Kyries  and  other  music  for 
the  services  of  the  Church. 

Though  St.  Luke's  Church  was  situated  in  a  poor  neigh- 
borhood, the  men  and  boys  forming  his  choir  not  only  gave  their 
services  but  also  gratuitously  rang  the  Church  bell,  pumped  the 
organ  bellows,  bought  all  the  music  used  at  the  services,  paid 
for  the  washing  of  the  surplices  and  helped  raise  money  for  the 
general  Church  fund.  Hope- Jones'  enthusiasm  knew  no  bounds 
and  he  had  the  knack  of  imparting  it  to  those  who  worked 
under  him. 

So  earnest  and  energetic  was  this  young  man  that  in  spite  of 
indifferent  health  and  without  at  once  resigning  his  work  at 
St.  Luke's,  he  became  choirmaster  and  honorary  organist  of  St. 
John's  Church,  Birkenhead,  doing  similar  work  in  connection 


142  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

with  that  institution.  He  trained  both  the  latter-named  choirs 
together,  and  the  writer  (whose  son  was  in  St.  John's  choir) 
frequently  assisted  him  by  playing  the  organ  at  the  services  on 
Sunday.  It  was  at  this  Church  and  in  connection  with  this 
organ  that  Hope-Jones  did  his  first  great  work  in  connection  with 
organ-building.  The  improved  electric  action,  movable  console 
and  many  other  matters  destined  to  startle  the  organ  world,  were 
devised  and  made  by  him  there,  after  the  day's  business  and  the 
evening's  choir  rehearsals.  He  had  voluntary  help  from  enthusi- 
astic choirmen  and  boys,  who  worked  far  into  the  night — on 
some  occasions  all  night.  Certain  of  these  men  and  boys  are 
to-day  occupying  responsible  positions  with  the  Hope-Jones  Or- 
gan Company. 

All  this  merely  formed  occupation  for  his  spare  time.  About 
the  age  of  seventeen  he  began  his  business  career.  He  was  bound 
apprentice  to  the  large  firm  of  Laird  Bros.,  engineers  and  ship- 
builders, Birkenhead,  England.  After  donning  workman's 
clothes  and  going  through  practical  training  in  the  various  work- 
shops and  the  drawing  office,  he  secured  appointment  as  chief 
electrician  of  the  Lancashire  and  Cheshire  (afterwards  the  Na- 
tional) Telephone  Company.  In  connection  with  telephony  he 
invented  a  multitude  of  improvements,  some  of  which  are  still 
in  universal  use.  About  this  time  he  devised  a  method  for  in- 
creasing the  power  of  the  human  voice,  through  the  application 
of  a  "relay"  furnished  with  compressed  air.  The  principle  is 
now  utilized  in  the  best  phonographs  and  other  voice-producing 
machines.  He  also  invented  the  "Diaphone,"  now  being  used 
by.  the  Canadian  Government  for  its  fog  signal  stations  and 
declared  to  be  the  most  powerful  producer  of  musical  sound 
known  (in  a  modified  form  also  adapted  to  the  church  organ). 

About  1889  he  resigned  his  connection  with  the  telephone 
company  in  order  that  he  might  devote  a  greater  part  of  his  at- 
tention to  the  improvement  of  the  church  organ,  a  subject  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  beginning  to  occupy  much  of  his  spare 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  143 

time.  Pie  had  private  practice  as  a  consulting  engineer,  but 
gradually  his  "hobby" — organ  building — crowded  out  all  other 
employment — much  to  his  financial  disadvantage  and  to  the 
gain  of  the  musical  world. 

His  organ  at  St.  John's  Church,,  Birkenhead,  became  famous. 
It  was  visited  by  thousands  of  music  lovers  from  all  parts  of  the 
world.  Organs  built  on  the  St.  John's  model  were  ordered  for 
this  country  (Taunton,  Mass.,  and  Baltimore,  Md.),  for  India, 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  Newfoundland,  France,  Germany, 
Malta,  and  for  numbers  of  English  cathedrals,  churches,  town 
halls,  etc.  Nothing  whatever  was  spent  on  advertisement.  The 
English  musical  press  for  years  devoted  columns  to  somewhat 
heated  discussion  of  Hope-Jones'  epoch-making  inventions,  and 
echoes  appeared  in  the  musical  periodicals  of  this  and  other 
countries. 

In  spite  of  every  form  of  opposition,  and  in  spite  of  serious 
financial  difficulties,  Hope- Jones  built  organs  that  have  influ- 
enced the  art  in  all  parts  of  the  globe.  He  proved  himself  a 
prolific  inventor  and  can  justly  claim  as  his  work  nine-tenths 
of  the  improvements  made  in  the  organ  during  the  last  twenty 
years.  Truly  have  these  words  been  used  concerning  him — "the 
greatest  mind  engaged  in  the  art  of  organ-building  in  this  or 
in  any  other  age." 

Every  organist  fully  acquainted  with  his  work  endorses  it,  and 
upwards  of  thirty  organ-builders  have  honored  themselves  by 
writing  similar  testimony.  The  Austin  Organ  Company,  of 
Hartford,  Cenn.,  says:  "We  have  taken  considerable  pains  to 
study  his  system  and  to  satisfy  ourselves  as  to  the  results  he 
has  achieved.  There  is,  we  find,  no  doubt  whatever  that  he  has 
effected  a  complete  revolution  in  the  development  of  tone." 

Sir  George  Grove,  in  his  "Dictionary  of  Music  and  Musi- 
cians" (p.  551),  says:  "No  reference  to  this  description  of  action 
[electric]  as  set  up  in  recent  years  would  be  complete  without 
mentioning  the  name  of  Mr.  Kobert  Hope-Jones.  *  *  *  The 


144  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

researches  in  the  realm  of  organ  tone  by  Mr.  Hope-Jones  and 
others  who  are  continually  striving  for  excellence  and  the  use  of 
an  increased  and  more  varied  wind-pressure  (ranging  from  3  to 
25  inches)  all  combine  to  produce  greater  variety  and  superiority 
in  the  quality  of  organ  tone  than  has  ever  existed  before." 

Elliston  in  his  book  on  Organ  Construction  devotes  consider- 
able space  to  a  description  of  the  organs  built  by  Hope-Jones  in 
England  and  Scotland,  and  says:  "The  Hope-Jones  system  em- 
braces many  novelties  in  tone  and  mechanism." 

Matthews,  in  his  "Handbook  of  the  Organ,"  referring  to  the 
Hope-Jones  instruments,  says: 

"In  his  electric  action  Mr.  Hope-Jones  sought  not  only  to  ob- 
tain a  repetition  of  the  utmost  quickness,  but  also  to  throw  the 
reeds  and  other  pipes  into  vibration  by  a  'percussive  blow/  so  to 
speak;  being  in  this  way  enabled  to  produce  certain  qualities 
of  tone  unobtainable  from  ordinary  actions.  Eoundness  and 
smoothness  of  tone  from  the  more  powerful  reeds,  and  great  body 
and  fullness  of  tone  as  well  as  depth  from  the  pedal  stops,  are 
also  noticeable  features  in  these  organs." 

Ernest  M.  Skinner,  of  Boston,  used  the  following  words: 
"Your  patience,  research  and  experiment  have  done  more  than 
any  other  one  agency  to  make  the  modern  organ  tone  what  it  is. 
I  think  your  invention  of  the  leathered  lip  will  mean  as  much  to 
organ  tone  as  the  Barker  pneumatic  lever  did  to  organ  action, 
and  will  be  as  far-reaching  in  its  effect. 

"I  believe  you  were  the  first  to  recognize  the  importance  of  a 
low  voltage  of  electric  action,  and  that  the  world  owes  you  its 
thanks  for  the  round  wire  contact  and  inverted  magnet. 

"Since  I  first  became  familiar  with  your  work  and  writing 
I  have  found  them  full  of  helpful  suggestions." 

At  first  Hope-Jones  licensed  a  score  of  organ-builders  to  carry 
out  his  inventions,  but  as  this  proved  unsatisfactory,  he  entered 
the  field  as  an  organ-builder  himself,  being  liberally  supported 
by  Mr.  Thomas  Threlfall,  chairman  of  the  Royal  Academy  of 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  145 

Music ;  J.  Martin  White,  Member  of  the  British  Parliament,  and 
other  friends. 

It  was,  perhaps,  too  much  to  expect  that  those  who  had  so 
far  profited  from  Hope-Jones'  contracts  and  work  should  remain 
favorably  disposed  when  he  became  a  rival  and  a  competitor. 

For  nearly  twenty  years  he  has  met  concerted  opposition  that 
would  have  crushed  any  ordinary  man — attacks  in  turn  against 
his  electrical  knowledge,  musical  taste,  voicing  ability,  financial 
standing,  and  personal  character.  His  greatest  admirers  remain 
those  who,  like  the  author,  have  known  him  for  thirty  years ;  his 
greatest  supporters  are  the  men  of  the  town  in  which  he  lives; 
his  warmest  friends,  the  associates  who  have  followed  him  to 
this  country  after  long  service  under  him  in  England. 

Long  before  Hope-Jones  reached  his  present  eminence,  and 
dealing  with  but  one  of  his  inventions,  Wedgwood,  a  Fellow  of 
the  Royal  Historical  Society  and  a  learned  student  of  organ 
matters,  classed  him  with  Cavaille-Coll  and  Willis,  as  one  whose 
name  "will  be  handed  down  to  posterity" — the  author  of  most 
valuable  improvements.* 

Early  in  his  organ-building  career,  Hope-Jones  had  the  good 
fortune  to  meet  J.  Martin  White,  of  Balruddery,  Dundee,  Scot- 
land. Mr.  White,  a  man  of  large  influence  and  wealth,  not  only 
time  and  again  saved  him  from  financial  shipwreck  and  kept 
him  in  the  organ-building  business,  but  rendered  a  far  more  im- 
portant service  in  directing  Hope-Jones'  efforts  toward  the  pro- 
duction of  orchestral  effects  from  the  organ. 

Mr.  White,  in  spite  of  his  duties  as  a  member  of  the  British 
Parliament,  and  in  spite  of  the  calls  of  his  business  in  Scotland 
and  in  this  country,  has  managed  to  devote  much  time  and 
thought  to  the  art  of  organ  playing  and  organ  improvement. 

Thynne,  who  did  pioneer  work  in  the  production  of  string  tone 
from  organ  pipes,  owes  not  a  little  to  Martin  White;  while 

""'Dictionary  of  Organ  Stops,"  p.  44  and  elsewhere. 


146  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Hope-Jones  asserts  that  he  derived  all  his  inspiration  in  this 
field  from  listening  to  the  large  and  fine  organ  in  Mr.  White's 
home. 

Mr.  White  argued  that  the  Swell  Organ  should  be  full  of 
violin  tone  and  be,,  as  the  strings  in  the  orchestra,  the  foundation 
of  accompaniment  as  well  as  complete  in  themselves.  He  lent 
to  Hope-Jones  some  of  his  "string"  pipes  to  copy  in  Worcester 
Cathedral,  whence  practically  all  the  development  of  string  tone 
in  organs  has  come.  Mr.  White  further  urged  that  the  whole 
organ  should  be  in  swell  boxes. 

It  is  extraordinary  that  an  outsider  like  Mr.  White,  a  man 
busy  in  so  many  other  lines  of  endeavor,  should  exert  such 
marked  influence  on  the  art  of  organ  building,  but  it  remains 
a  fact  that  but  for  his  artistic  discernment  and  for  the  encour- 
agement so  freely  given,  the  organ  would  not  to-day  be  supplant- 
ing the  orchestra  in  theatres  and  hotels,  nor  be  what  it  is  in  the 
churches  and  halls. 

Mr.  White  has  for  nearly  thirty  years  helped,  enthused  and 
encouraged,  not  only  artistic  organ-builders  like  Casson,  Thynne, 
Hope-Jones  and  Compton,  but  also  the  more  progressive  of  the 
prominent  organists. 

All  honor  to  Martin  White ! 

In  the  spring  of  1903  Hope-Jones  visited  this  country.  At 
the  instigation  of  Mr.  E.  P.  Elliot,  the  organizer,  Vice- President 
and  Secretary  of  the  Austin  Organ  Company,  of  Hartford,  Conn., 
he  decided  to  remain  here  and  join  that  corporation,  taking  the 
office  of  Vice-President.  Subsequently  a  new  firm — Hope-Jones 
&  Harrison — was  tentatively  formed  at  Bloomfield,  N.  J.,  in 
July,  1904,  but  as  sufficient  capital  could  not  be  obtained,  Hope- 
Jones  and  his  corps  of  skilled  employees  joined  the  Ernest  M. 
Skinner  Company,  of  Boston,  Hope-Jones  taking  the  office  of 
Vice-President,  in  1905.  Working  in  connection  with  the 
Skinner  Company,  Hope-Jones  constructed  and  placed  a  fine 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  147 

organ  in  Park  Church,,  Elmira,,  N".  Y.,  erected  in  memory  of 
the  late  Thomas  K.  Beecher.  He  there  met,  as  chairman  of  the 
committee,  Mr.  Jervis  Langdon  (Treasurer  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce,  Elmira).  That  gentleman  secured  the  industry  for 
his  city  by  organizing  a  corporation  to  build  exclusively  Hope- 
Jones  organs. 

This  "Hope-Jones  Organ  Company"  was  established  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1907,  the  year  of  the  financial  panic.  It  failed  to  secure 
the  capital  it  sought  and  was  seriously  embarrassed  throughout 
its  three  years'  existence.  It  built  about  forty  organs,  the  best 
known  being  the  one  erected  in  the  great  auditorium  at  Ocean 
Grove,  N.  J. 

The  patents  and  plant  of  the  Elmira  concern  were  acquired  by 
the  Rudolph  Wurlitzer  Co.  in  April,  1910,  and  Mr.  Hope-Jones 
entered  its  employ,  with  headquarters  at  its  mammoth  factory 
at  North  Tonawanda,  N.  Y.,  continuing  to  carry  on  the  business 
under  his  own  name. 

Robert  Hope-Jones  is  a  member  of  the  British  Institute  of 
Electrical  Engineers ;  of  the  Royal  College  of  Organists,  London, 
England;  of  the  American  Guild  of  Organists;  and  of  other 
bodies. 

In  1893  he  married  Cecil  Laurence,  a  musical  member  of  one 
of  the  leading  families  of  Maid  stone,  England.  This  lady  mas- 
tered the  intricacies  of  her  husband's  inventions,  and  to  her  help 
and  encouragement  in  times  of  difficulty  he  attributes  his 
success. 

We  suppose  that  the  reason  "history  repeats  itself"  is  to  be 
found  in  the  fact  that  human  nature  does  not  vary,  but  is  much 
the  same  from  generation  to  generation.  From  the  Bible  we 
learn  that  one  Demetrius,  a  silversmith  of  Ephesus,  became 
alarmed  at  the  falling  off  in  demand  for  silver  shrines  to  Diana, 
caused  by  the  preaching  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  and  called  his 
fellow  craftsmen  together  with  the  cry  of  "Our  craft  is  in  dan- 
ger," and  set  the  whole  city  in  an  uproar.  (Acts  xix-24.) 


148  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

In  the  year  1682  a  new  organ  was  wanted  for  the  Temple 
Church  in  London,  England,  and  "Father"  Smith  and  Eenatus 
Harris,  the  organ-builders  of  that  da}^  each  brought  such  power- 
ful influence  to  bear  upon  the  Benchers  that  they  authorized  both 
builders  to  erect  organs  in  the  church,  one  at  each  end.  They 
were  alternately  played  upon  certain  days,  Smith's  organ  by 
Purcell  and  Dr.  Blow,  and  Harris'  organ  by  Baptist  Draghi, 
organist  to  Queen  Catherine.  An  attempt  by  the  Benchers  of  the 
Middle  Temple  to  decide  in  favor  of  Smith  stirred  up  violent 
opposition  on  the  part  of  the  Benchers  of  the  Inner  Temple,  who 
favored  Harris,  and  the  controversy  raged  bitterly  for  nearly 
five  years,  when  Smith's  organ  was  paid  for  and  Harris'  taken 
away.  This  is  known  in  history  as  "The  Battle  of  the  Organs." 
In  the  thick  of  the  fight  one  of  Harris'  partisans,  who  had  more 
zeal  than  discretion,  made  his  way  inside  Smith's  organ  and 
cut  the  bellows  to  pieces. 

In  1875-76  the  organ  in  Chester  Cathedral,  England,  was 
being  rebuilt  by  the  local  firm  of  J.  &  C.  H.  Whiteley.  The  Lon- 
don silversmiths  took  alarm  at  the  Cathedral  job  going  to  a  little 
country  builder  and  got  together,  with  the  result  that,  one  by 
one,  Whiteleys'  men  left  their  employ,  tempted  by  the  offer  of 
work  at  better  wages  in  London,  and  had  there  not  been  four 
brothers  in  the  firm,  all  practical  men,  they  would  have  been 
unable  to  fulfil  their  contract.  The  worry  was  partly  responsible 
for  the  death  of  the  head  of  the  firm  soon  after. 

All  this  sounds  like  a  chapter  from  the  dark  ages,  of  long,  long 
ago,  and  we  do  not  deem  such  things  possible  now. 

But  listen !  In  the  year  1895  what  was  practically  the  first 
Hope-Jones  electric  organ  sold  was  set  up  in  St.  George's  Church, 
Hanover  Square,  London,  England. 

The  furor  it  created  was  cut  short  by  a  fire,  which  destroyed 
the  organ  and  damaged  the  tower  of  the  church.  With  curious 
promptitude  attention  was  directed  to  the  danger  of  allowing 
amateurs  to  make  crude  efforts  at  organ-building  in  valuable  and 


The  Chief  Actors  in  the  Drama  149 

historic  churches,  and  to  the  great  risk  of  electric  actions.  Incen- 
diarism being  more  than  suspected,  the  authorities  of  the  church 
ordered  from  Hope- Jones  a  similar  organ  to  take  the  place  of 
the  one  destroyed. 

About  the  same  time  a  gimlet  was  forced  through  the  electric 
cable  of  a  Hope-Jones  organ  at  Hendon  Parish  Church,  London, 
England.  Shortly  afterwards  the  cable  connecting  the  console 
with  the  Hope-Jones  organ  at  Ormskirk  Parish  Church,  Lan- 
cashire, England,  was  cut  through.  At  Burton-on-Trent  Parish 
Church,  sample  pipes  from  each  of  his  special  stops  were  stolen. 

At  the  Auditorium,  Ocean  Grove,  N".  J.,  an  effort  to  cripple  the 
new  Hope-Jones  organ  shortly  before  one  of  the  opening  recitals 
in  1908  was  made.  And  in  the  same  year,  on  the  Sunday  pre- 
vious to  Edwin  Lemare's  recital  on  the  Hope-Jones  organ  in  the 
First  Universalist  Church,  Kochester,  N.  Y.,  serious  damage  was 
done  to  some  of  the  pipes  in  almost  each  stop  in  the  organ. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 
How  WE  STAND  TO-DAY. 

LOOKING  backward  over  the  field  we  have  traversed  we  find 
that  the  modern  organ  is  an  entirely  different  instrument  from 
that  of  the  Nineteenth  Century. 

Tracker  action,  bellows  weights,  the  multitude  of  weak,  drab- 
toned  stops,  have  disappeared,  and  in  their  place  we  have  stops 
of  more  musical  character,  greater  volume,  under  perfect  and 
wide  control;  new  families  of  string  and  orchestral  tones;  great 
flexibility,  through  transference  of  stops;  an  instrument  oi 
smaller  bulk  than  the  old  one,  but  yet  of  infinitely  greater 
resources. 

In  his  "Handbook  of  the  Organ"  (page  24),  J.  Matthews  says: 
"There  can  be  no  finality  in  organ  building.  Whilst  the  violin 
fascinates  by  its  perfection,  the  organ  does  so  no  less  by  its 
almost  infinite  possibilities,  and  modern  science  is  fast  trans- 
forming it  into  a  highly  sensitive  instrument.  The  orchestral 
effects  and  overwhelming  crescendos  possible  from  such  organs 
as  those  described  in  this  work,  'double  touch/  new  methods  of 
tone  production,  such  as  the  Diaphone,  the  ease  with  which  all 
the  resources  of  a  powerful  instrument  can  now  be  placed  instan- 
taneously at  the  performer's  command  are  developments  of  which 
Bach  and  Handel  never  dreamed." 

And  the  modern  tendency  of  the  best  builders  is  to  make  the 
organ  still  more  orchestral  in  character,  by  the  addition  of  caril- 
lons and  other  percussion  stops. 

The  late  W.  T.  Best,  one  of  the  finest  executants  who  ever 
lived,  stated  to  a  friend  of  the  writer  who  asked  him  why  he 
never  played  the  Overture  to  Tannhauser,  that  he  considered  its 
adequate  rendition  upon  the  organ  impossible,  "after  having  had 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  151 

the  subject  under  review  for  a  long  time."  Nowadays  many 
organists  find  it  possible  to  play  the  Overture  to  Tannhauser ;  the 
writer  pleads  guilty  himself.  Dr.  Peace  played  it  at  the  opening 
of  Mr.  White's  organ  at  Balruddery  and  stated  that  he  found 
the  fine  string  tones  it  contained  of  peculiar  value  for  Wagnerian 
orchestral  effects.  Dr.  Gabriel  Bedart  says  that  music  ought  to 
be  specially  written  for  these  new  instruments. 

While  we  associate  the.  organ  chiefly  with  its  use  in  Church 
services,  a  new  field  is  opening  up  for  it  in  Concert  Halls,  The- 
atres, Auditoriums,  College  and  School  Buildings,  Ballrooms  of 
Hotels,  Public  Parks  and  Seaside  Kesorts,  not  as  a  mere  adjunct 
to  an  orchestra  but  to  take  the  place  of  the  orchestra  itself. 
The  Sunday  afternoon  recitals  in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York  are  attended  by  upwards  of  2,500  people,  many  hundreds 
being  unable  to  gain  admittance :  and  the  daily  recitals  at  Ocean 
Grove  during  July  and  August,  1909,  reaped  a  harvest  of  up- 
wards of  $4,000  in  admission  fees.  Organs  have  been  installed 
in  some  of  the  palatial  hotels  in  New  York  and  other  cities,  and 
one  is  planned  for  an  ocean  pier,  where  the  pipes  will  actually 
stand  under  sea  level,  the  sound  being  reflected  where  wanted  and 
an  equable  temperature  maintained  by  thermostats. 

Organists  have  found  it  necessary  to  make  special  study  of 
these  new  instruments,  and  the  University  of  the  State  of  New 
York  has  thought  the  matter  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify 
it  in  chartering  the  "Hope- Jones  Unit  Orchestra  School"  as  an 
educational  institution. 

Our  review  would  be  incomplete  without  some  mention  of 

AUTOMATIC  PLAYERS. 

When  one  listens  to  the  Welte-Mignon  Piano  Player,  it  seems 
difficult  to  believe  that  a  skilled  artist  is  not  at  the  keyboard  per- 
forming the  music. 

The  exact  instant  of  striking  each  note  and  the  duration  during 
which  the  key  is  held  are  faithfuly  recorded  and  reproduced 


152  The  Recent  Revolut'ion  in  Organ  Building 

with  absolute  accuracy,  and  a  pretty  close  approximation  to  the 
power  of  blow  with  which  each  key  is  struck  is  obtained. 

The  first  of  these,  that  is,  the  time  and  duration  of  the  note, 
is  directly  recorded  from  the  artist  who  plays  the  piece  to  be 
reproduced.  The  second  of  these,  that  is,  the  power  of  tone, 
is  subsequently  added  to  the  record  either  by  the  artist  himself 
or  by  musicians  who  have  carefully  studied  his  manner  of 
playing. 

The  result  of  this  is  a  very  faithful  reproduction  of  the  original 
performance. 

In  the  case  of  the  organ,  the  pressure  with  which  the  keys 
are  struck  does  not  need  to  be  recorded  or  reproduced,  but  instead 
of  this,  we  have  to  operate  the  various  stops  or  registers  and 
the  various  swell  shades  if  we  would  obtain  a  faithful  reproduc- 
tion mechanically  of  the  piece  of  music  played  by  an  artist  on 
the  organ. 

Automatic  Players  are  attached  to  many  pipe  organs.  They, 
for  the  most  part,  consist  of  ordinary  piano  players  so  arranged 
that  they  operate  the  keys,  or  the  mechanism  attached  to  the 
keys,  of  an  organ. 

This  is  a  very  poor  plan,  and  the  resulting  effect  is  thoroughly 
mechanical  and  unsatisfactory.  Only  one  keyboard  is  played 
upon  at  a  time  as  a  rule,  and  neither  the  stops  nor  the  pedals,  nor 
the  expression  levers  are  operated  at  all. 

The  Aeolian  Company,  of  New  York,  effected  an  improvement 
some  years  ago  when  they  introduced  what  they  term  the  double 
tracker  bar.  In  this  case,  the  holes  in  the  tracker  bar  are  made 
smaller  than  usual  and  they  are  staggered — or  arranged  in  two 
rows.  Every  evenly  numbered  hole  is  kept  on  the  lower  row, 
and  the  oddly  numbered  holes  are  raised  up  to  form  a  second 
row. 

Provided  the  paper  be  tracked  very  accurately,  and  be  given 
careful  attention,  this  plan  adopted  by  the  Aeolian  Company 
allows  of  two  manuals  of  an  organ  being  played  automatically, 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  153 

but  still  the  stops  and  expression  levers  are  left  to  be  operated  by 
hand. 

More  recently  a  plan  has  been  brought  out  by  Hope-Jones 
that  provides  for  the  simultaneous  performance  of  music  upon 
two  manuals  and  upon  the  pedals — each  quite  independent  of 
the  other.  It  also  provides  for  the  operation  of  all  the  stops 
individually  in  a  large  organ,  and  for  the  operation  of  the  expres- 
sion levers. 

A  switch  is  furnished  so  that  when  desired  the  stops  and 
expression  levers  may  be  cut  off  and  left  to  be  operated  by  hand. 
The  Hope-Jones  Tracker  Bar  has  no  less  than  ten  lines  of  holes 
— it  is,  of  course,  correspondingly  wide. 

We  look  for  a  great  development  in  the  direction  of  organs 
played  by  mechanical  means. 

The  piano  player  has  done  a  very  great  deal  to  popularize  the 
pianoforte  and  in  the  same  way  it  is  believed  that  the  automatic 
player  will  do  a  very  great  deal  to  popularize  the  organ. 

Many  people  who  cannot  play  the  organ  will  be  induced  to 
have  them  in  their  homes  if  they  knew  that  they  can  operate 
them  at  any  time  desired,  even  in  the  absence  of  a  skilled  per- 
former. 

We  now  give  specifications  of  some  of  the  most  notable  organs 
of  the  world,  all  of  which  have  been  built  or  rebuilt  since  the 
year  1888,  and  embody  modern  ideas  in  mechanism,  wind  pres- 
sures, and  tonal  resources.  First  in  the  writer's  estimation  comes 
the 

OKGAN   IN   ST.   GEOKGE'S   HALL,   LIVEEPOOL,  ENG. 

This  noble  instrument  was  built  by  Henry  Willis  to  the  speci- 
fication of  Dr.  S.  S.  Wesley,  by  whom  it  was  opened  on  the  29th 
and  30th  of  May,  1855.  The  writer  made  its  acquaintance  in 
1866,  when  it  was  tuned  on  the  unequal  temperament  system. 
In  1867  Mr.  Best  succeeded  in  getting  it  re-tuned  in  equal  tern- 


154 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


perament,  several  improvements  were  made,  and  the  wind  pres- 
sure on  four  of  the  reed  stops  on  the  Solo  organ  increased  from 
91/2  inches  to  22  inches.  In  1898  the  organ  was  thoroughly 


Keyboards  of  Organ  in  St.   George's  Hall,  Liverpool.     Two   Rows  of 
Stops  at  Left  Omitted 

rebuilt  with  tubular  pneumatic  action  in  place  of  the  Barker 
levers.  The  compass  of  the  manuals  was  changed  from  GG — a3 
to  CC — c4,*  five  octaves,  and  the  pedals  were  carried  up  to  g — 
32  notes.  A  Swell  to  Choir  coupler  was  added  (  !)  and  various 
changes  made  in  the  stops,  the  Vox  Humana  transferred  from 
the  Swell  to  the  Solo  organ,  and  two  of  the  Solo  wind-chests 
were  enclosed  in  a  Swell-box.  We  note  that  the  Tubas  are  still 
left  outside.  The  cast-iron  pipes  of  the  lowest  octave  of  the  32-ft. 
Double  Open  Diapason  on  the  Pedal  organ  were  replaced  by 
pipes  of  stout  zinc,  and  four  composition  pedals  added  to  control 
the  Swell  stops. 

*This  is  really  only  c3  (see  footnote,  page  22),  but  we  have  decided  to 
adopt  the  usual  nomenclature. 


How  We  Stand  To-Day 


155 


The  following  is  the  specification  of  the  organ  as  it  now  stands, 
in  its  revised  form: 


FIRST  MANUAL  (CHOIR),  18  STOPS. 


FEET. 

Double  Diapason. 

16          Gamba 

Open  Diapason 

8          Twelfth 

Clarabella 

8          Fifteenth 

Stopped  Diapason 

8          Flageolet 

Dulciana 

8          Sesquialtera,  3  ranks 

Viol  da  Gamba 

8          Trumpet 

Vox  Angelica 

8          Cremona 

Principal 

4          Orchestral    Oboe 

Harmonic  Flute 

4          Clarion 

SECOND  MANUAL   (GREAT),  25  STOPS. 

FEET. 

Dble.  Open  Diap.   (metal) 

16          Twelfth 

Open  Diapason,  No.  1 

8          Fifteenth 

Open  Diapason,  No.  2 

8          Harmonic  Piccolo 

Open  Diapason,  wood 

8          Doublette,  2  ranks 

Open  Diapason,  No.  3 

8          Sesquialtera,    5    ranks 

Stopped  Diapason 

8          Mixture,  4  ranks 

Violoncello 

8          Trombone 

Quint 

5V2       Trombone 

Viola 

4          Ophicleide 

Principal,   No.   1 

4          Trumpet 

Principal,  No.  2 

4          Clarion,  No.  1 

Flute 

4          Clarion,  No.  2 

Tenth 

3V2 

THIRD  MANUAL    (SWELL),  25  STOPS. 

FEET. 

Double  Diapason    (metal) 

16          Piccolo 

Open  Diapason,  No.  1 

8          Doublette,    2    ranks 

Open  Diapason,  No.  2 

8          'Fourniture,  5  ranks 

Dulciana 

8          Trombone 

Viol  da  Gamba 

8          Contra  Hautboy 

Stopped  Diapason 

8          Ophicleide 

Voix  Celeste 

8          Trumpet 

Principal 

4          Horn 

Octave  Viola 

4          Oboe 

Flute 

4          Clarionet 

Twelfth 

2%      Clarion,  No.  1 

Fifteenth,  No.  1 

2          Clarion,  No.  2 

Fifteenth,   No.  2 

2 

FEET. 
4 
2% 

2 

2 

8 
8 
8 
4 


FEET. 

2% 

2 

2 


16 

8 
8 
8 
4 
4 


FEET. 
2 


16 
16 
8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
4 
4 


156  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

FOURTH  MANUAL  (SOLO),  15  STOPS. 


Jb'JCJST. 

FEET. 

Viol  da  Gamba 

8            Vox  Humana 

8 

Open  Diapason,  wood 

8            Orchestral   Oboe 

8 

Stopped  Diapason 

8            Corno  di  Bassetto 

8 

Flute  (Orchestral) 

4          *Ophicleide 

8 

Flute  Piccolo 

2          *Trumpet 

8 

Contra  Fagotto 

16          *Clarion,  No.  1 

4 

Trombone 

8          *Clarion,   No.   2 

4 

Bassoon 

8 

These  stops  are  all  placed 

in  a  new  swell-box,  except 

those  marked*, 

which  are  on  the  heavy  wind 

pressure. 

PEDAL 

ORGAN  (17  STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

Double  Open 

Quint   (metal) 

5% 

Diapason   (wood) 

32          Fifteenth 

4 

Double  Open  Fourniture,    5    ranks 

Diapason    (metal)  32  Mixture,   3   ranks 

Open  Diapason    (wood)  16  Posaune                                          32 

Open  Diapason  (metal)  16  Contra  Fagotto                             16 

Salicional    (metal)  16  Ophicleide                                      16 

Bourdon    (wood)  16  Trumpet                                            8 

Bass  Flute  (wood)  8  Clarion                                             4 

Principal   (wood)  8 

COUPLERS. 

Solo  Super-Octave.  '        Choir  to  Great. 

Solo  Sub-Octave.  Choir  Super-Octave. 

Solo  to  Great.  Choir   Sub-Octave. 

Swell   to  Great   Super-Octave.  Solo  to  Pedals. 

Swell   to   Great  Unison.  Swell    to   Pedals. 

Swell  to  Great  Sub-Octave.  Great   to   Pedals. 

Swell   to  Choir.  Choir  to  Pedals. 

In  addition  to  these  coupling  movements  there  are  other 
accessories,  consisting  of  36  pneumatic  pistons,  6  to  each  manual, 
and  12  acting  upon  the  Pedal  stops.  There  are  also  6  composition 
pedals  acting  upon  the  "Great"  and  "Pedal"  stops  simultane- 
ously, and  4  pedals  acting  upon  the  Swell  organ  pistons.  The 
Swell  and  Solo  organs  are  each  provided  with  tremulants. 

Two  large  bellows  in  the  basement  of  the  Hall,  and  blown 
by  two  steam  engines  of  8  h.p.  and  %  h.p.  respectively,  supply 
the  wind,  which  passes  from  the  bellows  to  14  reservoirs  in 


How  We  Stand  To-Day 


157 


various  positions  in  the  instrument,  the  pressure  varying  from 
3i/2  to  22  inches. 

ORGAN  IN  THE  CATHEDRAL  OF  NOTRE-DAME, 
PARIS,  FRANCE. 

The  ancient  organ  in  the  Cathedral  of  Notre-Dame  de  Paris 
was  built  in  the  reign  of  Louis  XV  by  Thierry  Leselope  and 
the  best  workmen  of  his  time.  In  the  Eighteenth  Century  repairs 


Keyboards,  Cathedral  Notre  Dame,  Paris 

It  will  be  noticed  that  this  illustration  is  not  a  photograph,  but  a  wood 
engraving,  drawn  by  hand,  and  the  artist  was  evidently  not  a  musician — 
he  only  shows  38  keys  on  each  manual ;  there  should  be  56. 

and  additions  were  made  by  the  celebrated  Cliquot.  Further 
repairs  were  made  by  Dalsey  from  1832  to  1838,  and  in  1863 
the  French  Government  confided  the  complete  reconstruction 
of  the  instrument  to  Arjstide  Cavaille-Coll.  He  spent  five  years 
over  the  work,  and  the  new  organ  was  solemnly  inaugurated 
on  the  6th  of  March,  1868. 

It  stands  in  a  gallery  over  the  west  door  of  the  Cathedral. 


158  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

It  has  five  manuals  of  56  notes  each,  CC  to  g3,  pedal  of  30  notes, 
CCC  to  F;  86  sounding  stops  "controlled  by  110  registers"; 
22  combination  pedals,  and  6,000  pipes,  the  longest  being  32 
feet.  Tfie  action  is  Cavaille-ColPs  latest  improvement  on  the 
Barker  pneumatic  lever.  The  wind  reservoirs  contain  25,000 
litres  of  compressed  air,  fed  by  6  pairs  of  pompes  furnishing 
600  litres  of  air  per  second.  Here  is  the  specification : 

PEDAL  ORGAN  (16  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Principal-Basse  32  Quinte  5% 

Centre-Basse  16  Septieme  4# 

Grosse  Quinte  10%  Contre  Bombarde  32 

Sous-Basse  16  Bombarde  16 

Flute  8  Trompette  8 

Grosse  Tierce  6%  Basson  16 

Violoncelle  8  Basson  8 

Octave  4  Clairon  4 

FIEST  CLAVIER  (GRAND  CHOEUR),  12  STOPS. 

FEET.  FEET. 

1H 
1% 

16 
8 
4 


FEET. 

4 
2 


16 
.8 
4 


FEET. 

2% 


16 
8 
4 


Principal 

8 

Larigot 

Prestant 

4 

Septieme 

Bourdon 

8 

Piccolo 

Quinte 

2% 

Tuba  Magna 

Doublette 

2 

Trompette 

Tierce 

1% 

Clairon 

SECOND  CLAVIER  (GRAND  ORGUE),  14  STOPS. 

FEET. 

Violon-Basse 

16 

Octave 

Montre 

8 

Doublette 

Bourdon 

16 

Fourniture,  2  to  5  ranks 

Flute  Harmonique 

8 

Cymbale,  2  to  5  ranks 

Viola  de  Gambe 

8 

Basson 

Prestant 

4 

Basson-Hautbois 

Bourdon 

8 

Clairon 

THIRD 

CLAVIER  (BOMBARDES),  14  STOPS. 

FEET. 

Principal-Basse 

16 

Quinte 

Principal 

8 

Septieme 

Sous-Basse 

16 

Doublette 

Flute  Harmonique 

8 

Cornet,  2   to   5   ranks 

Grosse  Quinte 

5% 

Bombarde 

Octave 

4 

Trompette 

Grosse  Tierce 

3% 

Clairon 

How  We  Stand  To-Day  159 

FOURTH  CLAVIER  (POSITIF),  14  STOPS. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Montre  Hi  Flute   Douce  4 

Flute  Harmonique  8  Doublette  2 

Bourdon  10  Piccolo  1 

Salcional  8  Plein  Jen,  3  to  6  ranks 

Prestant  4  Clarinette-Basse  16 

Unda  Maris  S  Cromorne  8 

Bourdon  8  Clarinette  Aigue  4 

FIFTH  CLAVIER  (RECIT  EXPRESSIF),  16  STOPS. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Voix  Humaine  8  *Prestant  4 

*Basson-Hautbois  8  *Plein  Jeu,  4  to  7  ranks 

*  Diapason                                         8  Quinte  2% 
*Flute  Harmonique                       4  Octavin                                            2 

Voix  Ce"leste  8  Cornet,  3  to  5  ranks 

*  Flute  Octav  4  Bombarde  16 
Voile   de   Gambe  8  Trompette  8 
Quintaton  16  Clairon  4 

The  printed  specification  kindly  furnished  to  us  by  Dr.  Will- 
iam C.  Carl,  of  New  York,  who  obtained  it  specially  from  Mr. 
Charles  Mutin,  of  Paris,  Cavaille-ColPs  successor  in  business, 
is  not  clear  on  the  matter  of  couplers.  Apparently  all  the 
manuals  can  be  coupled  to  the  Grand  Choeur;  the  Grand  Orgne 
and  the  Grand  Choeur  to  the  Pedals ;  and  each  mamial  has  a  sub- 
octave  coupler  on  itself.  One  of  the  combinations  to  the  Pedal 
organ  is  designated,  "Effets  d'orage" — a  thunder  stop. 

The  organ  was  completely  overhauled  and  renovated  by  Ca- 
vaille-Coll  shortly  before  his  death  (in  1899)  and  the  stops 
marked  *  were  inserted  in  the  Swell  (Eecit  Expressif)  in  place 
of  others.  The  inauguration  announcement  states  that  it  is 
one  of  the  largest  and  most  complete  in  Europe,  and  that  inde- 
pendently of  the  perfection  of  the  mechanism  it  possesses  a 
power  and  variety  of  tone  hitherto  unknown  in  organ  building, 
and  now  only  realized  for  the  first  time.  It  is  undoubtedly 
Cavaille-Coll's  finest  work,  and  a  lasting  monument  to  his 
genius. 


160  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

ST.  PAUL'S  CATHEDEAL  ORGAN,  LONDON,  ENG. 

The  old  organ  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  London,  on  which 
Sir  John  Goss  played,  and  which  had  felt  the  magic  touch  of 
Mendelssohn,  had  13  stops  on  the  Great,  7  on  the  Swell,  8  on 
the  Choir  and  only  one  on  the  Pedal.  It  stood  in  a  case  on  the 
screen  between  the  choir  and  the  nave  of  the  Cathedral.  We 
have  noted  elsewhere  in  this  book  how  Willis  had  this  screen 
removed,  and  rebuilt  the  organ  on  each  side  in  1872.  In  1891 
it  was  rebuilt  in  its  present  form  as  noted  below.  The  writer 
first  saw  and  heard  this  organ  in  1872,  and  never  failed,  on  his 
frequent  visits  to  London  in  later  years^  to  attend  a  service 
in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  where  there  are  two  choral  services 
daily  all  the  year  round.  No  summer  vacations  here.  The 
effect  of  the  Tuba  ringing  up  into  the  dome  is  magnificent. 
Willis  looked  upon  this  organ  as  his  chef  df  oeuvre,  saying 
"There  is  nothing  like  it  in  the  whole  world!" 

The  Great  organ  is  situated  on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel* 
The  Swell  and  Choir  organs  are  on  the  south  side.  The  Solo 
organ  and  one-third  of  the  Pedal  organ  are  under  the  first  arch 
on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel.  The  Altar  organ,  which  can 
be  played  through  the  Solo  organ  keys,  is  under  the  second  arch 
on  the  north  side  of  the  chancel.  The  remaining  two-thirds 
of  the  Pedal  organ  and  three  Tuba  stops  occupy  the  northeast 
quarter  gallery  in  the  dome.  The  keyboards  are  on  the  north 
side  of  the  chancel,  inside  the  organ  case,  and  can  be  seen  from 
the  "whispering  gallery."  There  are  five  manuals,  CC  to  c3,  61 
notes;  pedals  CCC  to  g,  32  notes. 

PEDAL  ORGAN   (NORTHEAST  GALLERY  OF  DOME),  10  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Double  Diapason  32  Octave  8 

Open  Diapason,  No.  1  16  Mixture,  3   ranks 

Open  Diapason,  No.  2  16  Contra   Posaune  32 

Violone    Open    Diapason  16  Bombardon  16 

Violoncello  8  Clarion  8 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  161 

PEDAL  ORGAN  (UNDER  ARCH,  NORTH  SIDE  OF  CHANCEL),  5  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET 

Violone  16  Octave  8 

Bourdon  16  Ophicleide  16 

Open  Diapason  16 

CHOIR  ORGAN,  11  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Contra  Gamba  16  Flute  Harmonique  4 

Open  Diapason  8  Principal  4 

Dulciana  8  Flageolet  2 

Violoncello  8  Corno  di  Bassetto  8 

Claribel   Flute  8  Cor  Anglais  8 

Lieblich  Gedackt  8 

GREAT  ORGAN,  16  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Double  Diapason  16  Principal  4 

Open   Diapason,    No.    1  8  Octave  Quint  3 

Open  Diapason,  No.  2  8  Super  Octave  2 

Open  Diapason,  No.  3  8  Fourniture,  3  ranks 

Open  Diapason,  No.  4  8  Mixture,   3  ranks 

Open  Diapason  8  Trombone  16 

Quint,   metal  6  Tromba  8 

Flute   Harmonique  4  Clarion  4 

SWELL  ORGAN,  13  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Contra  Gaiaba  16  Fifteenth  2 

Open  Diapason  8  Echo  Cornet,  3  ranks 

Lieblich  Gedackt  8  Contra  Posaune  16 

Salicional  8  Cornopean 

Vox  Angelica  8  Hautbois  8 

Principal  4  Clarion  4 

SOLO  ORGAN  (NOT  IN  SWELL  Box),  3  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Flute    Harmonique  8          Piccolo  2 

Concert  Flute  Harmonique         4 

SOLO  ORGAN  (IN  SWELL  Box),  10  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Open  Diapason  8  Tuba                                                8 

Gamba  8  Orchestral  Oboe                             8 

Contra  Fagotto  16  Corno  di  Bassetto 

Contra  Posaune  16  Cornopean 

Cor  Anglais  8  Flute                                               S 


162  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

ALTAR  ORGAN  (PLAYED  THROUGH  SOLO  ORGAN  KEYS),  5  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Contra  Gamba  16  Vox  Humana  8 

Gamba  8          Tremulant 

Vox   Angelica,   3   ranks  8 

TUBA  ORGAN,  G  STOPS 

FEET.  FEET. 

Double  Tuba    (in  quarter  gal-  Tuba    (in  quarter  gallery)          4 

lery)  16  Tuba  Major  (over  Great  organ)  8 

Tuba,     (in    quarter    gallery)      8          Clarion    (over    Great    organ)     4 

COUPLERS  AND  ACCESSORILS — PNEUMATIC 

Swell   to   Great    Sub-octave.  Dome  Tubas  to  Great. 

Swell  to  Great  Unison.  Chancel   Tubas   to  Great. 

Swell  to  Great  Super-octave.  Chancel  Tubas  to  Great. 
Solo  to  Swell. 

COUPLERS — MECHANICAL 

Tuba  Organ  to  Pedal.  Great  Organ  to  Pedal. 

Solo  Organ  to  Pedal.  Choir  Organ  to  Pedal. 

Swell  Organ  to  Pedal. 

Six    Pistons   operate   on   the    whole   Organ. 

About   forty    Adjustable   Pistons   and   Composition    Pedals. 

The  mechanism  is  entirely  new.  The  quarter  dome  portion 
of  the  organ  is  playable  by  electric  agency ;  the  rest  being  entirely 
pneumatic.  There  are  one  hundred  draw-stops.  The  most  novel 
features  are  the  new  Altar  and  Tuba  organs.  The  former,  con- 
taining Vox  Humana,  Vox  Angelica  (3  ranks),  and  two  Gam- 
bas  (16  and  8  feet)  serves  for  distant  and  mysterious  effects 
and  to  support  the  priest  while  intoning  at  the  altar;  while 
the  Tuba  organ  produces  effects  of  striking  brilliancy;  three  of 
the  Tubas  being  located  in  the  northeast  quarter-gallery  and 
speaking  well  into  the  body  of  the  building.  Among  the  acces- 
sories, also,  may  be  noted  the  large  supply  of  adjustable  com- 
bination pistons,  which  bring  the  various  sections  of  the  instru- 
ment well  under  the  player's  control.  Various  wind  pressures 
arc  employed,  from  3i/>  to  25  inches. 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  163 

WESTMINSTER  ABBEY  ORGAN,  LONDON,  ENG. 

All  good  Americans  when  they  visit  London  go  to  Westminster 
Abbey,  and  will  be  interested  in  the  organ  there;  in  fact  we 
believe  it  was  largely  built  with  American  money.  The  house 
of  William  Hill  &  Son,  who  built  this  organ,  is  the  oldest  firm 
of  organ-builders  in  England,  being  descended  from  the  cele- 
brated artist,  John  Snetzler,  whose  business,  founded  in  1755, 
passed  into  the  possession  of  Thomas  Elliot,  and  to  his  son-in- 
law,  William  Hill  (inventor  of  the  Tuba),  in  the  earlier  part 
of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  The  business  has  been  in  the  Hill 
family  nearly  a  hundred  years  and  is  now  directed  by  William 
Hill's  grandson.  The  firm  has  built  many  notable  instruments 
in  Great  Britain  and  her  colonies  (Sydney)  celebrated  for  the 
refinement  and  purity  of  their  tone. 

The  organ  in  Westminster  Abbey  is  placed  at  each  side  of  the 
choir  screen,  except  the  Celestial  organ,  which  is  placed  in 
the  triforium  of  the  south  transept  (Poets'  Corner)  and  con- 
nected with  the  console  by  an  electric  cable  200  feet  long.  The 
form  of  action  used  is  Messrs.  Hill's  own,  and  the  "stop-keys" 


The  Console,  Westminster  Abbey 


164  *          The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


therefor  (made  to  a  pattern  suggested  by  Sir  Frederick  Bridge) 
will  be  seen  in  the  picture  to  the  left  of  the  music  desk.  Note 
that  this  organ  can  be  played  from  two  keyboards.  The  main 
organ  has  pneumatic  action  throughout.  It  was  commenced 
in  1884,  added  to  as  funds  were  available,  and  finished  in  1895. 
The  specification  (containing  the  additions  made  in  1908-9) 
follows : 

GREAT  ORGAN  (14  STOPS) 


FEET. 

Double  Open  Diapason  16 

Open    Diapason,    large    scale  8 

Open  Diapason,  No.   1  8 

Open  Diapason,  No.  2  8 

Open  Diapason,  No.  3  8 

Hohl  Flote  8 

Principal  4 


Harmonic  Flute 

Twelfth 

Fifteenth 

Mixture,   4   ranks 

Double  Trumpet 

Posaune 

Clarion 


CHOIR  ORGAN    (11   STOPS) 


Gedackt 

Open  Diapason 

Keraulophon 

Dulciana 

Lieblich  Gedackt 

Principal 


FEET. 
16 

8 
8 
8 
8 
4 


Nason  Flute 
Suabe  Flute 
Harmonic  Gemshorn 
Contra  Fagotto 
Cor  Anglais 


SWELL  ORGAN  (18  STOPS) 


FEET. 

Double   Diapason,   Bass  16 

Double  Diapason,  Treble  16 
Open  Diapason,  No.   1  8 

Open   Diapason,    No.    2  8 

Rohr  Flote  8 

Salicional  8 

Voix  Celestes  8 

Dulciana  8 

Hohl  Flote  8 


Dulcet 

Principal 

Lieblich   Flote 

Fifteenth 

Mixture,  3   ranks 

Oboe 

Double  Trumpet 

Cornopean 

Clarion 


SOLO  ORGAN  (8  STOPS) 


Gamba 
Rohr   Flote 
Lieblich  Flote 
Harmonic  Flute 


FEET, 
8 
8 
4 
4 


FEET. 
4 

O2/ 


16 
8 
4 


FEET. 
4 

4 

4 

16 

8 


FEET. 

4 

4 
4 
2 

8 

16 

8 

4 


In  a  Swell  Box 
Orchestral   Oboe 
Clarinet 
Vox  Humana 
Tuba  Mirabilis   (heavy  wind)     8 


FEET. 

8 
8 
8 


II ow  We  Stand  To-Day  165 

CELESTIAL  ORGAN  (IT  STOPS) 
First  Division— 

FEET.  FEET. 

Double  Dulciana,  Bass  16  Voix  Celestes  8 

Double  Dulciana,  Treble  16          Hohl  Flote  8 

Flauto  Traverse  8          Dulciana  Cornet,  6  ranks 

Viola  di  Gamba  8 

The  following  Stops  are  available,  when  desired,  on  the  Solo  keyboard, 
thus  furnishing  an  independent  Instrument  of  two  Manuals;  whilst  in 
combination  with  Coupler  Keys,  Nos.  1  and  2,  Coupler  Keys  Nos,  3 
and  4  can  be  interchanged,  thus  reversing  the  Claviers. 

Second   Division — 

FEET.  FEET. 

Cor  de  Nuit  8  Vox  Humana  8 

Suabe  Flute  4  Spare   Slide 

Flageolet  2  Glockenspiel,  3  ranks 

Harmonic  Trumpet  8  Gongs      (three     octaves     of     brass 

Musette  8  gongs,     struck     by     electro-pneu- 

Harmonic    Oboe  8  matic  hammers). 

PEDAL  ORGAN    (10   STOPS) 

FEET.  FEET. 

Double  Open  Diapason  32  Bass  Flute  8 

Open  Diapason  16  Violoncello  8 

Open  Diapason  16  Contra  Posaune  32 

Bourdon  16  Posaune  16 

Principal  8  Trumpet  8 

Manuals— CC  to  a8.    Pedal— CCC  to  F. 

The  entire  instrument  is  blown  by  a  gas  engine,  actuating  a  rotary 
blower  and  high  pressure  feeders. 

There  are  24  Couplers;  10  Combination  Pedals  affecting  Great,  Swell, 
and  Pedal  stops ;  24  Combination  Pistons,  and  3  Crescendo  Pedals. 

In  1908-1909  the  organ  was  refitted  throughout  with  William 
Hill  &  Sons'  latest  type  of  tubular  pneumatic  action  (excepting 
the  Celestial  organ,  for  which  the  electric  action  was  retained), 
an  entirely  new  console  was  provided.,  a  large-scale  Open  Dia- 
pason added  to  the  reed  soundboard  of  the  Great  organ,  and 
several  additions  made  to  the  couplers  and  combination  pistons. 

William  Hill  &  Sons  are  also  the  builders  of  the  organ  in  the 
Town  Hall,  Sydney,  Australia,  once  the  largest  in  the  world; 
it  has  126  speaking  stops.  It  may  be  looked  upon  as  the  apothe- 


166  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

osis  of  the  old  style  of  organ-building,,  with  low  pressures,  dupli- 
cation, and  mixtures.  The  highest  pressure  used  is  12  inches 
and  there  are  no  less  than  45  ranks  of  mixtures  which  were 
characterized  by  Sir  J.  F.  Bridge  as  being  "like  streaks  of 
silver."  The  writer  saw  this  organ  in  the  builder's  factory  in 
London  before  it  was  shipped  to  Sydney.  A  unique  novelty 
was  the  Contra  Trombone  on  the  Pedal  of  64  feet  actual  length. 
The  bottom  pipes  were  doubled  up  into  three  sections  and  the 
tongue  of  the  reed  of  the  CCCCC  pipe  was  two  feet  long.  Al- 
though almost  inaudible  when  played  alone  this  stop  generated 
harmonics  which  powerfully  reinforced  the  tone  of  the  full 
organ.  The  organ  is  inclosed  in  a  case  designed  by  Mr.  Arthur 
Hill  after  old  renaissance  examples. 

ORGAN  IN  THE  MANSION  OF  J.  MARTIN  WHITE,  ESQ., 
BALRUDDERY,  SCOTLAND. 

The  organs  heretofore  described  have  been  somewhat  on  the 
old  lines,  but  we  come  now,  in  1894,  to  "the  dawn  of  a  new 
era/'  and  the  star  of  Hope- Jones  appears  on  the  horizen.  With 
the  exception  of  an  instrument  rebuilt  by  Hope-Jones  in  Dun- 
dee Parish  Church,  this  is  the  first  organ  with  electric  action  in 
Scotland. 

Balruddery  mansion,  the  rural  residence  of  Mr.  J.  Martin 
White,  stands  in  a  fair  country  seven  miles  to  the  west  of  Dundee  * 
The  grounds  of  the  mansion  are  a  dream  of  sylvan  beauty,  with 
the  broad  bosom  of  the  River  Tay  within  the  vision  and  beyond 
that  the  blue  line  of  the  Fife  shore. 

The  organ  is  the  work  of  three  hands.  It  was  originally  built 
by  Casson;  the  most  notable  characters  in  the  voicing  are  due 
to  Thynne;  and  it  remained  for  Mr.  Hope-Jones  to  entirely 
reconstruct  it  with  his  electric  action,  stop-keys,  double  touch, 
pizzicato  touch  and  some  of  his  new  stops.  The  console  is 
movable,  connected  with  the  organ  by  a  cable  about  one  inch 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  169 

thick,  containing  about  1,000  wires,  enabling  the  player  to  hear 
the  organ  as  the  audience  hears  it. 

Eef erring  to  the  view  of  the  hall  on  page  167,  the  Great 
organ  is  in  the  chamber  behind  the  pipes  seen  in  the  upper 
gallery.  The  Swell  and  Solo  organs  are  in  the  attic  above,  and 
the  sound  of  these  can  be  made  distant  by  shutting  the  Swell 
shutters,  or  brought  near  by  opening  them.  The  pedal  pipes  are 
put  upside  down  so  that  their  open  ends  may  be  toward  the 
music  room. 

SPECIFICATION. 

Three  manuals,  CC  to  a3,  58  notes.     Pedal  CCC  to  F,  30  notes. 
PEDAL  ORGAN  (6  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Open  Diapason  16  Principal                                           8 

"Great"  Bourdon  16               (Partly      from      16      feet 

"Swell"  Violone  16                   open.) 

Ophicleide  16  Couplers : 

(First   and   second  touch,                       Great  to  Pedal, 
partly  from  Tuba.)                                Swell   to   Pedal. 

"Swell"  Viola  8              Solo  to  Pedal. 

GREAT  ORGAN  (9  STOPS). 
In  swell  box  No.  2,  except  the  Open  Diapason,  Clarabel  and  Sourdine. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Bourdon  16          Principal  4 

Open  Diapason  8          Zauber  Flote  4 

Clarabel  8          Piccolo  2 

Sourdine  8          Mixture,  5  ranks 

Gedackt  8 

Couplers:   Swell  to  Great   (first  and  second  touch). 

Swell  to  Great  Sub-Octave. 
"          Swell  to  Great  Super-Octave. 

Solo  Unison  to  Great    (first,  second,   and  pizzicato  touch). 
Solo  to  Super-Octave  to  Great. 
5  Composition  Pedals. 

SWELL  ORGAN  (10  STOPS). 
In  Swell  Box  No.  1. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Violone  16  Geigen  Principal  4 

Geigen  Open  8  Horn  8 

Violes  d'  Orchestre  8  Oboe  8 

Harmonic  Flute  8  Violes  Celestes    (Tenor  C)  8 

Echo  Salcional  8  Vox  Angelica    (Tenor  C)  8 


170  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Couplers :   Sub-Octave  and  Super-Octave. 

Solo  to  Swell   (second  touch). 

Great  to  Swell    (second  touch). 
5  Composition  Pedals. 

SOLO  ORGAN  (5  STOPS). 
In  Swell  Box  No.  2. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Harmonic    Flute     (8    inches  Tuba   Mirabilis    (8   inches 

wind)  8  wind) 

Violoncello  8          Cor  Anglais  8 

Clarionet  8 

Couplers  :  Sub-Octave  ;  Super-Octave. 

GENERAL  ACCESSORIES. 

Three  Pedal  Studs  p,  f,  ff. 
Sforzando  Pedal  /,  if. 
Stop  Switch  (Key  and  Pedal). 
Tremulant   (Swell  and  Solo). 


ORGAN  IN  WORCESTER  CATHEDRAL,  ENGLAND. 

Next  in  chronological  order  comes  the  epoch-making  organ  in 
Worcester  Cathedral,  England,  built  by  Hope-Jones  in  1896. 
Here  he  gave  to  the.  world  the  result  of  his  researches  into  the 
production  of  organ  tone,  and  we  make  bold  to  say  that  no  other 
instrument  has  so  revolutionized  and  exerted  such  an  influence 
on  the  art  of  organ-building  both  in  England  and  the  United 
States.  Here  for  the  first  time  we  find  that  wonderful  invention, 
the  Diaphone,  and  even  the  nomenclature  of  the  various  stops  is 
new,  however  familiar  they  may  be  now,  seventeen  years  later. 
Hope-Jones  is  reported  to  have  spent  several  days  in  the  Cathe- 
dral studying  its  acoustic  properties  before  planning  this  organ, 
and  the  result  was  a  marvelous  ensemble  of  tone.  The  fame 
thereof  spread  abroad  and  eminent  musicians  made  pilgrimages 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth  to  see  and  hear  it,  as  mentioned  in 
our  account  of  Yale  University  Organ  later. 

Charles  Heinroth,  Organist  and  Director  of  Music,  Carnegie 
Institute,  Pittsburgh,  Pa.,  says: 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  171 

"I  don't  believe  I  could  forget  my  first  impression  on  hearing 
the  Worcester  Cathedral  organ,  to  me  a  perfect  masterpiece.  At 
once  a  sense  of  something  out  of  the  ordinary  took  hold  of  me  at 
hearing  the  tone  quality  of  the  various  stops  and  combinations — 
it  seemed  altogether  uncommon." 

Similar  opinions  were  expressed  by  many  others. 

There  were  two  organs  in  Worcester  Cathedral.  The  older 
of  the  two,  standing  on  the  north  side  of  the  choir,  though 
it  had  been  rebuilt  by  Hill  &  Son,  contained  pipes  over  200 
years  old  from  the  original  instrument  by  Eenatus  Harris.  The 
second  organ,  built  by  Hill  &  Son  in  1875,  stood  in  the  south 
transept.  It  was  a  gift  to  the  Cathedral  from  the  late  Earl 
of  Dudley. 

In  1895-1896  Hope-Jones  constructed  a  new  organ  retaining 
the  Eenatus  Harris  and  some  of  the  Hill  pipes.  It  stands  in 
three  portions,  part  against  the  south  wall  of  the  transept  and 
part  on  either  side  of  the  choir,  all  controlled  from  the  console 
originally  placed  inside  the  screen  just  west  of  the  choir  stalls, 
but  since  moved  into  the  north  choir  aisle.  It  was  planned 
to  have  the  Solo  Tuba  on  a  wind  pressure  of  100  inches,  but 
we  regret  to  say  the  funds  for  this  have  not  been  forthcoming. 
The  specification  follows;  the  compass  of  the  manuals  is  from 
CC  to  c4,  61  notes;  of  the  pedals,  CCC  to  F,  30  notes. 

GREAT  ORGAN   (11  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Diapason  Phonon  16  Octave  Diapason  4 

Tibia  Plena  8  Quintadena  4 

Diapason  Phonon  8  Harmonic  Piccolo  2 

Open  Diapason  8  Tuba  Profunda  16 

Hohl  Flute  8  Tuba  8 

Viol  d'Amour  8 

SWELL  ORGAN    (15  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Contra  Viola  16  String  Gamba  8 

Violes   Celestes  8  Quintaton  8 

Tibia  Clausa  8  Gambette  4 

Horn  Diapason  8  Harmonic  Flute  4 


172 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


SWELL  ORGAN — Continued. 


Harmonic   Piccolo 
Double  English  Horn 
Cornopean 
Oboe 


FEET. 

2 
16 

8 
8 


Cor  Anglais   (free) 
Vox  Humana 
Clarinet 


CHOIE  ORGAN   (10  STOPS). 


Double  Open  Diapason 
Open  Diapason 
Cone  Leiblich  Gedackt 
Viol  d'Orchestre 
Tiercina 


FEET. 

16 

8 
8 
8 
8 


Dulciana 

Flute 

Flautina 

Cor  Anglais    (beating) 

Clarionet 


SOLO  ORGAN  (5  STOPS). 


Rohr  Flute 
Bombarde 
Tuba  Mirabilis 


FEET. 
4 

16 


Tuba  Sonora 
Orchestral   Oboe 


PEDAL  ORGAN  (13  STOPS). 


FEET. 

Gravissima  64  Octave  Violone 

Double  Open  Diapason  32  Flute 

Contra  Violone  32  Diaphone 

Tibia  Profunda  16  Diaphone 

Open  Diapason  16  Tuba  Profunda 

Violone  16  Tuba 

Bourdon  16 


FEET. 
8 
8 
8 


FEET. 

8 
4 
2 

8 
8 


FEET. 
8 

8 


FEET. 

8 

8 

32 
16 
16 

8 


Couplers:  Choir,  Great,  Swell,  Solo  to  Pedal;  light  wind  Great  Sub 
Oct  (on  itself)  ;  Great  reeds  Super  Oct  (on  themselves)  ;  Solo 
to  Great,  Sub,  Super  and  Unison ;  Swell  to  Great,  Sub,  Super 
and  Unison ;  Choir  to  Great,  Sub  and  Unison. 
Swell  Sub  and  Super  Octave  (on  itself)  ;  Solos  to  Swell ; 
Choir  to  Swell. 

Choir    Sub   and    Super   Octave    (on    itself)  ;    Swell    to   Choir, 
Sub,   Super  and  Unison. 

Solo  Organ  Sub  and  Super  Octave   (on  itself). 
Solo  Tuba  to  Great  2d  touch. 
Swell  to  Great  2d  touch. 
Swell  to  Choir  2d  touch. 
Choir  to  Swell  2d  touch. 

Solo  and  Pedal  Tubas  have  double  tongues  and  are  voiced  on  20  inches 
of  wind. 

Accessories :  5  compound  composition  keys  for  Great  and  Pedal,  Swell 
and   Pedal,    Solo ;    3   for  Choir   and   Pedal,    and   2   to   each   manual   for 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  173 

couplers ;  2  combination  keys ;  Tremulant  to  Swell ;  5  composition  pedals ; 
Stop  Switch,  Key  and  Pedal. 

The  composition  keys  between  the  manuals  if  touched  in  the  centre 
give  automatically  an  appropriate  Pedal  bass  in  addition  to  the  particular 
stops  acted  upon ;  but  if  touched  on  one  side  do  not  disturb  the  Pedal 
department.  All  combination  movements  affect  the  stop  keys  themselves. 
The  "stop  switch"  enables  the  player  to  prepare  in  advance  any  special 
combination  of  stops  and  couplers,  bringing  them  into  play  at  the 
moment  desired.  The  organ  is  blown  by  a  six-horse  gas  engine. 


ORGAN   IN   WOOLSEY   HALL,   YALE   UNIVERSITY, 

NEW  HAVEN,  CONN. 

This  magnificent  instrument,  built  by  the  Hutchings-Votey 
Organ  Company  in  1902,  possesses  increased  foundation  tone 
and  higher  wind  pressures.  The  late  Professor  Samuel  S.  San- 
ford,  devoted  much  time  and  interest  in  its  design.  He  visited 
Worcester  Cathedral,  England,  and  was  profoundly  impressed 
with  the  new  epoch  in  tone  production  heralded  by  that  organ 
He  made  an  effort  to  have  Mr.  Hope-Jones  voice  one  of  his 
Tibias  and  Smooth  Tubas  for  the  Yale  organ;  and  though  his 
effort  was  not  successful,  leading  features  of  the  Worcester  in- 
strument were  frankly  imitated  and  generously  acknowledged. 
It  was  largely  due  to  the  liberality  of  Mr.  George  S.  Hutchings 
in  interpreting  the  terms  of  the  contract  that  such  a  complete 
instrument  was  secured  for  the  University.  In  recognition  of 
this  and  in  view  of  Mr.  Hutchings'  artistic  contributions  to  the 
art  of  organ-building,  the  University  conferred  upon  him  the 
honorary  degree  of  Master  of  Arts.  The  Diapasons  are  voiced 
on  pressures  ranging  from  3%  to  22  inches;  the  reeds  in  the 
Great  and  Swell  on  10  inches,  and  the  Tuba  on  22  inches.  The 
builders  state  that  the  mixtures  have  been  inserted  at  the  request 
of  many  noted  organists.  There  are  now  78  sounding  stops. 

Compass  of  Manuals  from  CO  to  c4,  61  notes.    Compass  of  Pedals  from 
CCC  to  g,  32  notes. 


174 


Tlic  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


GREAT  ORGAN   (19  STOPS). 


Diapason 
Quintaton 
Diapason 
Diapason 
Diapason 
Doppel  Floete 
Principal  Flute 
Gross  Gamba 
Viol  d' Amour 
Gemshorn 


Contra  Gamba 

Bourdon 

Stentorphone 

Diapason 

Gamba 

Bourdon 

Flauto  Traverse 

Salicional 

Quintadena 

Unda  Maris 

Aeoline 


Contra  Dulciana 

Diapason 

Melodia 

Viol  d'Orchestie 

Lieblich  Gedacht 

Dulciana 

Viol  Celeste,  2  ranks 


Tibia  Plena 
Tuba  Sonora 
Gross  Flute 


FEET. 
16 
16 

8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
8 


Octave 

Wald  Flute 

Gambette 

Twelfth 

Fifteenth 

Mixture,  5  ranks 

Trumpet 

Trumpet 

Clarion 


SWELL  ORGAN   (21  STOPS). 


CHOIR  ORGAN  (13  STOPS). 
(Inclosed  in  a  Swell  Box) 

FEET. 

16  Violoncello 

8  Viola 

8  Flauto  Traverse 

8  Piccolo  Harmonique 

8  Clarinet 

8  Contra  Fagotto 

8  Tremolo 

SOLO  ORGAN  (6  STOPS). 
(In  a  Swell  Box) 

FEET. 

8  Hohlpfeife 

8  Dolce 

8  Orchestral  Oboe 

PEDAL  ORGAN  (19  STOPS). 


Gravissima   (Resultant) 

Diapason 

Contra  Bourdon 


FEET. 
64 
32 
32 


FEET. 
4 
4 
4 

2% 

2 

16 
8 
4 


FEET. 

FEET. 

16 

Vox  Celestis 

8 

16 

Harmonic  Flute 

4 

8 

Principal 

4 

8 

Violina 

4 

8 

Flautino 

2 

8 

Dolce  Cornet,  5  ranks 

8 

Posaune 

16 

8 

Cornopean 

8 

8 

Oboe   . 

8 

8 

Vox  Humana 

8 

8 

Tremolo 

Contra  Bass    (Resultant) 

Diapason 

Diapason 


FEET. 
8 

4 
4 
2 
8 
16 


FEET. 
4 

8 
8 


FEET. 

32 

16 
16 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  175 
PEDAL  ORGAN — Continued. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Violone                                          16          Octave  8 

Bourdon                                          16          Violoncello  8 

Dulciana                                         16          Bourdon  8 

Lieblich  Gedacht                          16          Tromba  8 

Bombarde                                       16          Super    Octave  4 

Contra  Fagotto                             16          Flute  4 
Bass  Flute                                       8 

There    are    20    Couplers;    29    Combination    Pistons;  11    Composition 
Pedals ;  3  Balanced  Swell  Pedals  and  Balanced  Crescendo  Pedal. 


ORGAX  IN  ST.  PAUL'S  CATHEDRAL,  BUFFALO,  N.  Y. 

This  instrument,  built  by  the  Hope- Jones  Organ  Company 
and  opened  Christmas,  1908,  in  one  of  the  finest  churches  in 
America,  takes  position  among  the  great  and  important  organs 
of  the  New  World.  It  is  built  on  the  "Unit"  principle,  and  is 
divided  between  the  extreme  ends  of  the  lofty  structure. 

The  chancel  organ,  consisting  of  four  extended  stops,  occupies 
the  old  organ  chamber,  which  opens  into  the  chancel  and  the 
transept  of  the  church.  This  portion  of  the  instrument  stands 
in  a  cement  swell  box,  its  tone  being  thrown  through  the  arch 
and  into  the  chancel  by  means  of  reflectors.  It  contains  a 
Diaphone,  the  full  organ  being  very  powerful,  although  its 
various  tones  can  be  reduced  to  whispers  by  closing  the  laminated 
lead  shutters,  which  are  electrically  controlled  through  the  gen- 
eral swell  pedal  at  the  console. 

The  other  division  of  the  instrument,  the  organ  proper,  is 
located  in  the  gallery  at  the  distant  end  of  the  nave  of  the  church, 
and  in  an  adjacent  room.  This  gallery  division,  complete  in  it- 
self, represents  the  latest  type  of  Unit  organ.  Speaking  generally, 
all  the  stops  are  common  to  all  four  manuals,  and  to  the  pedals, 
and  can  be  drawn  at  various  pitches.  Following  more  or  less 
the  analogy  of  the  orchestra,  the  organ  is  divided  into  four 
distinct  portions,  each  enclosed  in  its  own  cement  swell  box 
with  its  laminated  lead  shutters,  controlled  electrically  from  the 


176 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


console  swell   pedals.     These   divisions  represent,   respectively: 
"Foundation,"  "wood  wind/'  "string"  and  "brass." 

The  entire  instrument  is  played  from  one  console,  located  in 
the  nave,  connected  with  the  chancel  organ  by  an  electric  cable 
sixty  feet  in  length,  and  with  the  gallery  organ  by  one  of  one 
hundred  and  sixty  feet.  This  key  desk  is  of  the  well-known 
Hope- Jones  type,  which  appeals  so  strongly  to  most  organists. 
It  contains  all  the  latest  conveniences :  Stop-keys,  in  semi-cir- 
cular position  above  the  manuals;  combination  keys,  which  move 
the  stop-keys  (with  switch-board  within  easy  reach  for  changing 
the  selection  of  stops)  ;  suitable  bass  tablets,  saving  time  and 
worry  to  the  player ;  double  touch,  offering  its  wealth  of  tonal 
effects,  etc.  Through  the  operation  of  a  small  tablet  the  organs 
can  be  played  separately  or  together. 

COMPASS  :  MANUALS,  61  NOTES  ;  PEDALS,  32  NOTES. 


PEDAL  ORGAN   (16  STOPS). 


FEET. 

Foundation. 

Tibia  Profundissima  32 

Resultant  Bass  32 

Tibia  Profunda  16 

Contra  Tibia  Clausa  16 

Open  Diapason  16 
Tibia  Plena  8 

Tibia  Clausa  8 

Wood  Wind. 

Clarinet  16 

String. 

Contra  Viola  16 

Dulciana  16 


FEET. 

8 
8 


Cello 

Cello    Celeste 

Brass. 

Ophicleide  16 

Trombone  16 

Tuba  8 

Clarion  4 

Great  to  Pedal. 
Swell  to  Pedal. 
Swell    Octave    to    Pedal. 
Choir   to   Pedal. 
One    Stud    to    release    all 
Suitable  Basses. 


GREAT  ORGAN  (14  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Foundation.  Wood  Wind. 

Tibia  Profunda  16          Concert   Flute  8 

Contra  Tibia  Clausa  16          Flute  4 

Tibia  Plena  8  String. 

Tibia  Clausa  8          Dulciana  8 

Open  Diapason  8  Brass. 

Horn  Diapason  8          Ophicleide  16 

Octave  4          Tuba  8 


How  We  Stand  To-Day 


177 


Tromba 
Clarion 

Swell  Sub  to  Great. 

Swell  Unison  to  Great. 


GREAT  ORGAN — Continued. 

FEET.  Swell   Octave  to  Great. 

8  Choir   Sub   to  Great. 

4  Choir  Unison  to  Great. 

Choir  Octave  to  Great. 
Tuba  to  Great  Second  Touch. 


One  Double  Touch  Tablet  to  cause  the  Pedal  Stops  and  Couplers  to 
move  so  as  at  all  times  to  furnish  automatically  a  Suitable  Bass. 

Ten  Double  Touch  Adjustable  Combination  Keys  for  Great  Stops  and 
Suitable  Bass. 


CHOIR  ORGAN   (22  STOPS). 


FEET. 

Foundation. 

Contra  Tibia  Clausa  16 
Tibia  Clausa  8 

Horn  Diapason  8 

Wood  Wind. 

Orchestral    Oboe    (Ten   C)        16 
Concert  Flute  8 

Clarinet  8 

Oboe  Horn  8 

Orchestral  Oboe  8 

Vox   Humana  8 

Flute  4 

String. 

Contra  Viola  16 
Viole  d'   Orchestre  8 

Viole  Celeste  8 


FEET. 
8 
8 
8 
8 
4 
4 
4 
4 


Quintadena 

Quint  Celeste    (Ten  C) 

Dulciana 

Unda  Mar  is  (Ten  C) 

Gambette 

Octave  Celeste 

Quintadena 

Quint  Celeste 

Brass. 

Trombone 

Tuba 

Tromba 

Percussion. 

Harmonic  Gongs 

Harmonic   Gongs 

Unison  Off.     Sub-Octave.  Octave 
Choir  to  Swell  Second  Touch. 


16 

8 
8 

8 
4 


One  Double  Touch  Tablet  to  cause  the  Pedal   Stops  and  Couplers  to 
move  so  as  at  all  times  to  furnish  automatically  a  Suitable  Bass. 

Ten  Double  Touch  Adjustable  Combination  Keys  for  Swell  Stops  and 
Suitable  Bass. 

CHOIR  ORGAN  (22  STOPS). 


FEET. 

Foundation. 

Contra  Tibia  Clausa  16 

Tibia  Clausa  8 

Horn  Diapason  8 

Wood  Wind. 

Clarinet  16 

Vox  Humana  (Ten  C)  16 

Concert  Flute  8 

Clarinet  8 

Oboe  Horn          .  8 

Orchestral  Oboe  8 

Vox  Humana  8 


FEET. 

Flute  4 

Piccolo  2 

String. 

Dulciana  16 

Viole  d'  Orchestre  8 

Viole  Celeste  8 

Quintadena  8 

Quint  Celeste  •  8 

Dulciana  8 

Unda  Maris  (Ten  C)  8 

Dulcet  4 

Unda  Maris  4 


178  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

Cnont  ORGAN — Continued. 

FEET.  Swell  Sub  to  Choir 

Percussion.  Swell  Unison  to  Choir 

Harmonic  Gongs  8  Swell  Octave  to  Choir 

Unison  Off.     Sub-Octave.     Octave.  Swell  to  Choir  second  touch 

One  Double  Touch  Tablet  to  cause  the  Pedal  Stops  and  Couplers  to 
move  so  as  at  all  times  to  furnish  automatically  a  Suitable  Bass. 

Ten  Double  Touch  Adjustable  Combination  Keys  for  Choir  Stops  and 
Suitable  Bass. 

SOLO  ORGAN  (8  STOPS). 


FEET. 

Foundation.  Clarion  4 

Tibia  Profunda  16  Percussion. 

Tibia  Plena  8  Harmonic  Gongs                            8 

Open  Diapason  8  Great  to  Solo. 

Brass.  Swell  Sub  to  Solo. 

Ophicleide  16  Swell  Unison  to  Solo. 

Tuba  8  Swell  Octave  to  Solo. 

Tromba  8 
Four  Adjustable  Combination  Keys. 

CHANCEL  PEDAL  ORGAN  (2  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Diaphonic"  Diapason  16          Bourdon  1<> 

CHAXCEL  GREAT  ORGAN    (7   STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Bourdon  16  Flote  4 

Open  Diapason  8  Octave  Gamba  4 

Doppel  Flote  Horn  8 

Gamba  8 

CHANCEL  CHOIR  ORGAN  (4  STOPS  i . 

FEET.  FEET. 

Doppel  Flote  8          Flote  4 

Gamba  8          Horn  8 

GEXERAL. 

Sforzando  Pedal.  Balanced  Swell  Pedal  for  Foundation,  Balanced 
Swell  Pedal  for  Wood  Wind,  Balanced  Swell  Pedal  for  String,  Balanced 
Swell  Pedal  fcr  Brass. 

General  Balanced  Swell  Pedal  for  all  or  any  of  the  above. 

Five  Keys  for  indicating  and  controlling  the  position  of  the  various 
Swell  Pedals. 

Tremulant  for  Wood  Wind. 

Tremulant  for  String. 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  179 

ORGAN  KNOWN  AS  THE  HOPE-JONES  UNIT  OR- 
CHESTRA, 

IN  THE  PARIS  THEATRE,  DENVER,  COLORADO. 

This  fine  instrument  was  installed  in  May,  1913,  and  hailed 
by  the  people  of  Denver  with  great  enthusiasm.  The  president 
of  the  Paris  Theatre  Company,  writing  under  date  of  June  9, 
says: 

"The  wonderful  instrument  *  *  *  is  proving  a  source  of 
interest  to  the  whole  city  and  has  materially  added  to  the  fame 
of  'The  Paris'  as  the  leading  picture  theatre  of  Denver.  No 


The  Author  Playing   a   Hope-Jones    Unit   Orchfxtrn. 


180  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

thirty-piece  orchestra  could  accompany  the  pictures  so  well  as 
the  Hope-Jones  Unit  Orchestra  does.  Neither  would  it  so  com- 
pletely carry  away  with  enthusiasm  the  crowd  that  flock  to 
hear  it." 

Only  the  keyboards  are  visible  from  the  auditorium;  the  in- 
strument is  placed  on  each  side  of  the  proscenium,  occupying  the 
place  of  the  usual  stage  boxes,  the  tone  being  reflected  into  the 
theatre  through  ornamental  case  work.  The  32-foot  open  dia- 
phone  is  located  behind  the  picture  screen.  The  specification : 

PEDAL  ORGAN    (32  NOTES). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Diaphone                                       32          Octave  8 

Ophicleide                                     16          Clarinet  8 

Diaphone                                        16          Cello  8 

Bass                                                 16          Flute  8 

Tuba  Horn                                      8          Flute  4 

Bass   Drum,   Kettle  Drum,   Crash   Cymbals — Second  Touches. 

Great  to  Pedal;   Solo  Octave  to  Pedal. 

Diaphone  32  ft.   Second  Touch;  Ophicleide  16  ft.  Pizzicato  Touch. 

Six  Adjustable  Toe  Pistons. 

ACCOMPANIMENT  OBGAN   (61  NOTES). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Vox  Humana  (Ten  C)  16          Octave  Celeste  4 

Tuba  Horn  8          Flute  4 

Diaphonic  Diapason  8          Twelfth  2% 

Clarinet  8          Piccolo  2 

Viole  d'Orchestre  8          Chrysoglott  4 

Viole  Celeste  8          Snare  Drum 

Flute  8          Tambourine 

Vox  Humana  8          Castanets 

Viol  4 

Triangle,  Cathedral  Chimes,  Sleigh  Bells,  Xylophone,  Tuba  Horn, 
Solo  to  Accompaniment — Second  Touches. 

Flute,   Solo  to  Accompaniment— Pizzicato  T^ouch.'  • 
Ten   Adjustable   Combination  Pistons.  i 

One  Double  Touch,  Tablet  to  cause,  the  Pedal1.  'Stops  and  Couplers  to 
move  so  as  at  a^l  tlPies"  to  furnisjb^  automatically  a  Suitable  Bass. 

.  GltEAT,  OBGAN,   (61  NOTES). 

*v 

FEET.  FEET. 

Ophicleide  16          n.u-inet  (Ten  C)  16 

Diaphone  16  -       r.mtre  Viole  (Ten  C)  J  16 

Bass  16          Tuba  Horn  8 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  181 


CHOIR  ORGAN — Continued. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Diaphonic  Diapason  8          Flute  4 

Clarinet  8          Twelfth  2% 

Viole   d'Orchestre  8          Viol  2 

Viole  Celeste  8          Piccolo  2 

Flute  8          Tierce  1% 

Vox  Humana  8          Chrysoglott  4 

Clarion  4          Bells  4 

Viol  4          Sleigh  Bells  4 

Octave  Celeste  4          Xylophone  2 

Octave,   Solo  to  Great. 

Ophicleide,   Solo  to  Great — Second  Touches. 

Solo  to  Great  Pizzicato  Touch. 

Ten  Adjustable   Combination  Pistons. 

One  Double  Touch  Tablet  to  cause  the  Pedal  Stops  and  Couplers  to 
move  so  as  at  all  times  to  furnish  automatically  a  Suitable  Bass. 

SOLO  ORGAN  (37  NOTES). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Tibia  Clausa  8          Quintadena  8 

Trumpet  8          Cathedral  Chimes  8 

Orchestral  Oboe  8          Bells  4 

Kiuura  8          Sleigh  Bells  4 

Oboe  Horn  8          Xylophone  2 

Six  Adjustable  Combination   Pistons. 

GENERAL. 

Two  Expression  Levers,  two  Indicating  and  Controlling  Keys,  Thunder 
Pedal  (Diaphone),  Thunder  Pedal  (Reed),  Two  Tremulants,  Re-Iterator 
for  Strings,  Re-Iterator  for  Solo. 

One  Double  Touch  Sforzando  Pedal,  First  Touch, 'Full  Stops,  Second 
Touch,  Percussion. 

One  Double  Touch  Sforzando  Pedal,  First  Touch  Snare  Drum,  Second 
Touch  Bass  Drum,  and  Crash  Cymbals. 


CATHEDEAL  OF  ST.  JOHN  THE  DIVINE,  NEW 
YOEK  CITY. 

This  organ  was  built  by  the  Ernest  M.  Skinner  Company, 
Boston,  Mass.,  in  1911.  It  is  the  gift  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Levi  P. 
Morton,  and  is  said  to  have  cost  $50,000.  It  is  contained  in  two 
cases  on  each  side  of  the  triforium  of  the  chancel  arid  blown  by 
an  electric  installation  of  25  h.p. 


182 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


GREAT  ORGAN 

(21  STOPS). 

FEET. 

Diapason 

16 

Harmonic  Flute 

Bourdon 

16 

Octave 

1st  Diapason 

8 

Gambette 

2d  Diapason 

8 

Flute 

3d  Diapason 

8 

Fifteenth 

Philomela 

8 

Mixture 

Grosse  Floete 

8 

Trombone 

Hohl  Flute 

8 

Ophicleide 

Gedackt 

8 

Harmonic  Tuba 

Gamba 

8 

Harmonic  Clarion 

Er/ahler 

8 

SWELL  ORGAN 

(26  STOPS). 

FEET. 

Dulciana 

16 

1st  Flute 

Bourdon 

16 

2d  Flute 

1st  Diapason 

8 

Violin 

2d  Diapason 

8 

Flautino 

3d  Diapason 

8 

Mixture 

Spitz  Floete 

8 

Trumpet 

Salicional 

8 

English  Horn 

Viola 

8 

Cornopean 

Claribel  Flute 

8 

French  Trumpet 

Aeoline 

8 

Oboe 

Voix  Celestes 

8 

Vox  Humana 

Unda  Maris 

8 

Clarion 

Gedackt 

8 

Tremolo 

Octave 

4 

CHOIR  ORGAN  (IN  Box)    (18  STOPS). 

FEET. 

Gedackt 

16 

Piccolo 

Gamba 

16 

Fagotto 

Diapason 

8 

Saxaphone 

Geigen  Principal 

8 

Clarinet 

Dulciana 

8 

English  Horn 

Dulcet 

8 

Orchestral  Oboe 

Concert  Flute 

8 

Vox  Humana 

Quintadena 

8 

Carillons 

Flute 

4 

Tremolo 

Fugara 

4 

SOLO  ORGAN 

(17  STOPS). 

FEET. 

Stentorphone 

8 

Gamba 

Philomela 

8 

Hohl  Preife 

Claribel  Flute 

8 

Flute 

Harmonic  Flute 

8 

Octave 

Voix  Celestes 

8 

Cymbal 

FEET. 
8 
4 

4 
4 
2 

8 
16 

8 
4 


FEET. 
4 
4 

4 
2 

16 
16 

8 

8 

8 

8 

4 


FEET. 

2 

16 
8 
8 
8 
8 
8 


FEET. 
8 

4 
4 
4 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  183 

SOLO  ORGAN — Continued. 

FEET.  FEET. 

Ophicleide  16          Choir  Clarinet  8 

Tuba  8          Choir  Orchestral  Oboe  8 

Tuba  Mirabilis  8          Clarion  4 

Flugel  Horn  8          Tremolo 

PEDAL  ORGAN    (24  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Diapason  32          1st  Octave  8 

Contra  Violone  32          2d  Octave  8 

Violone  16          Super  Octave  4 

1st  Diapason  16          Bombarde  32 

2d  Diapason  16          Euphonium  16 

Gamba  16          Ophicleide  16 

1st  Bourdon  16          English  Horn  16 

2d  Bourdon  16          Tuba  Mirabilis  8 

Dulciana  16          Tuba  8 

Gedackt  8          1st  Clarion  4 

Quinte  10%       2d  Clarion  4 

'Cello  8          Pizzicato  8 

There  are  32  Couplers.  Stop  Knobs  are  used,  with  Stop  Keys  for 
the  Couplers.  (See  illustration  of  the  College  of  City  of  New  York, 
page  45.) 

Suitable  combination  action  adjustable  at  Console,  and  visibly  affecting 
the  registers. 

The  organ  is  provided  wth  the  following  Expression  Pedals  and  ap- 
pliances : 

Sforzando  Pedal,  Great  to  Pedal  Reversible,  Swell  to  Pedal  Reversible, 
Balanced  Swell  Pedal,  Balanced  Choir  Pedal,  Balanced  Solo  Pedal, 
Crescendo  Pedal. 

OKGAN  IN  UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO,  CANADA. 

Many  fine  organs  have  been  erected  in  Canada  and  the  north- 
ern part  of  the  United  States  by  Casavant  Freres,  of  St.  Hya- 
cinthe,  Province  of  Quebec,  among  which  we  may  mention  the 
Church  of  Notre-Dame  in  Montreal,  the  Cathedrals  of  Montreal 
and  Ottawa,  the  Northwestern  University,  Chicago,  and  the 
Grand  Opera  House,  Boston.  The  organ  in  the  Convocation 
Hall  of  the  University  of  Toronto  has  4  manuals  of  61  notes, 
CC  to  c4;  pedals  of  32  notes,  CCC  to  g;  electro-pneumatic  ac- 
tion; 76  speaking  stops;  32  couplers,  and  4,800  pipes. 

The  organ  was  inaugurated  June  6,  1912. 

The  specification  follows: 


184  The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 

GREAT  ORGAN   (16  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

*Double  Open  Diapason             16          fOctave  4 

*Bourdon                                        16          {Harmonic  Flute  4 

*Open  Diapason   (large)               8          *Principal  4 

*Open  Diapason   (medium)          8          f Twelfth  2% 

fViolin  Diapason                            8          {Fifteenth  2 
*Doppel  Flote                                8          tHarmonics  (15-17-19-B21-22) 

*Flute  Harmonique                       8          fDouble  trumpet  16 

fGemshorn                                      8          fTromba  8 

*  Stops  marked  *  can  be  played  by  Coupler  in  Super  Octave. 

•{•Stops  marked  f  can  be  played  by  Coupler  in  Sub  Octave. 

SWELL  ORGAN    (17   STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Gedeckt                                          16          Piccolo  2 

Open  Diapason                               8          Mixture  3  rks. 

Clarabella                                        8          Cornet  4  rks. 

Stopped  Diapason                           8          Bassoon  16 

Dolcissimo                                        8          Cornopean  8 

Viola  di  Gamba                             8          Oboe  8 

Voix  Celeste                                   8          Vox  Humana  8 

Fugara                                            4          Clarion  4 
Flauto  Traverso                             4 

Wind  pressure  5  inches ;   Cornopean  and  Clarion  6  inches. 

\V  ind  pressure  4  inches ;  Large  Open  Diapason  and  Reeds  6  inches. 

CHOIR  ORGAN    (ENCLOSED)     (12  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Salicional                                      16          Suabe  Flute  4 

Open  Diapason                              8          Violina  4 

Melodia                                           8          Quint  2% 

Gamba                                             8          Flageolet  2 

Dulciana                                         8          Contra  Fagotto  16 

Lieblich  Gedeckt                            8          Clarinet  8 
Wind  pressure,   3^   inches. 

SOLO  ORGAN  (DIVISION  I,  ENCLOSED)     (8  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Rohr  Flote                                      8          Concert  Flute  4 

Quintadena                                       8          Orchestral  Oboe  8 

Viole  d'Orchestre                            8          Cor  Anglais  8 
Violes  Celestes    (2  rks.)                8          Celesta 

SOLO  ORGAN   (DIVISION  II,  ENCLOSED)    (8  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Stentorphone                                  8          Harmonic  Piccolo  2 

Tibia  Plena                                    8          Tuba  Magna  16 

Violoncello                                      8          Tuba  Mirabilis  8 
Octave                                             4          Tubular  Chimes 
Wind  pressure,  12  inches. 


How  We  Stand  To-Day  185 

PEDAL  ORGAN  (15  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Double  Open  32  Violoncello 

Open  Diapason  (wood)  16          Octave  8 

Open  Diapason   (metal)  16  Bourdon  8 

Violone  16  Super  Octave  4 

Dulciana  16          Trombone  16 

Bourdon  16          Trumpet  8 

Gedeckt  16          Clarion  4 

Flute  8 

Wind  pressure,  5  inches ;   Reeds,   12  inches. 

There  are  32  Couplers  operated  by  Draw-stops,  also  by  Pistons  and 
reversible  Pedals. 

Combination  Pistons,  6  to  each  Manual,  and  4  (Pistons)   to  the  Pedals. 

Four  Foot  Pistons  on  all  Stops  and  Couplers ;  one  Foot  Piston  for 
Great  to  Pedal  reversible ;  one  Foot  Piston  for  Full  Organ. 

Balanced  Swell  Pedal  to  Swell,  Choir,  and  Solo ;  Balanced  Crescendo 
Pedal. 

Tremulants  to  Choir,  Swell,  and  Solo. 

CITY  HALL,  POKTLAND,  MAINE. 

This  organ  was  built  by  the  Austin  Organ  Company,  of  Hart- 
ford, Conn.,  in  1912.  It  was  presented  to  the  city  of  Portland 
by  Mr.  Cyrus  K.  Curtis,  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  in  mem- 
ory of  the  late  Hermann  Kotschmar,  whose  "Te  Deum"  is  well 
known  in  the  United  States.  The  organ  is  in  a  handsome  case 
on  the  platform  at  one  end  of  the  hall  and  is  entitled  to  take 
its  place  among  the  world's  great  instruments.  It  is  certainly 
a  coincidence  that  those  who  have  been  associated  with  Mr.  Hope- 
Jones  in  business  now  rank  as  the  foremost  organ  builders  in 
America,  as  witness  this  fine  organ  and  that  in  the  Cathedral 
of  St.  John  the  Divine  in  New  York. 

The  Portland  organ  his  four  manuals  of  61  notes,  CC  to  c3, 
and  pedal  of  32  notes,  CCC  to  g.  There  are  88  sounding  stops 
and  33  couplers. 

GREAT  ORGAN   (18  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Sub  Bourdon  32          2d  Open  Diapason 

Bourdon  16  3d  Open  Diapason  8 

Violone  Dolce  16          Violoncello  8 

1st  Open  Diapason  8          Gemshorn  8 


186 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


GREAT  ORGAN — Continued. 


FEET. 

FEET. 

Doppel  Flute 

8          Double  Trumpet 

16 

Clarabella 

8          Trumpet 

8 

Octave 

4          Clarion 

4 

Hohl  Flute 

4          Cathedral  Chimes  (enclosed 

in  Solo 

Octave  Quint 

3              Box). 

Super  Octave 

2 

SWELL  ORGAN   (16  STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

Quintaton 

16          Harmonic  Flute 

4 

Diapason  Phcmon 

8          Flautino 

2 

Horn  Diapason 

8          Mixture,  3  and  4  ranks 

Viole  d'Gamba 

8          Contra  Fagotto 

16 

Rohr  Flute 

8          Cornopean 

8 

Flauto  Dolce 

8          Oboe 

8 

Unda  Maris 

8          Vox  Humana 

8 

Muted  Viole 

8          Tremulant 

Principal 

4 

ORCHESTRAL  ORGAN  (13  STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

Contra  Viole 

16          Quintadena 

8 

Geigen  Principal 

8          Flute  d'Amour 

4 

Concert  Flute 

8          Flageolet 

2 

Dulciana 

8          French  Horn 

8 

Viole  d'Orchestra 

8          Clarinet 

8 

Viole  Celeste 

8          Cor  Anglais 

8 

Vox  Seraphique 

8          Tremulant 

SOLO  ORGAN  (12  STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

Violone 

16          Concert  Piccolo 

2 

Flaute  Major,  Open 

Chests        8          Tuba  Profunda 

16 

Grand  Diapason 

8          Harmonic  Tuba 

8 

Gross  Gamba 

8          Tuba  Clarion 

4 

Gamba  Celeste 

8          Orchestral  Oboe   (enclosed) 

8 

Flute  Overte 

4          Tuba  Magna 

8 

ECHO  ORGAN   (IN  ROOF)    (8  STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

Cor  de  Nuit 

8          Echo  Cornet,  3  ranks 

Gedackt 

8          Vox  Humana 

8 

Vox  Angelica 

8          Harp 

Viole  Aetheria 

8          Tremulant 

Fern  Flute 

4 

How  We  Stand  To-Day  187 

PEDAL  ORGAN  (AUGMENTED)    (21  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Contra  Magnaton  32          Gross  Flute 

Contra  Bourdon  32  Violoncello 

Magnaton  16          Octave  Flute  4 

Open  Diapason  16          Contra  Bombarde  32 

Violone  16          Bombarde   (25-inch  wind)          16 

Dulciana  (from  Great)  16          Tuba  Profunda  16 

First  Bourdon  16          Harmonic  Tuba  8 

Contra  Viole  16          Tuba  Clarion  4 

Second  Bourdon  16  (From  Solo  Enclosed) 

Lieblich  Gedackt   (Echo)  16          Contra  Fagotto  16 

Gross   Quint  10^  (From  Swell) 

Flauto  Dolce  8 

There  are  6  Composition  Pedals  to  the  Pedal  Organ  and  8  Adjustable 
Pistons  to  each  Manual  controlling  the  Stops  and  Couplers.  Stop-keys 
are  used. 

Accessory:  Balanced  Crescendo  Pedal,  adjustable,  not  moving  reg- 
isters ;  Balanced  Swell  Pedal ;  Balanced  Orchestral  Pedal ;  Balanced 
Solo  and  Echo  Pedal ;  Great  to  Pedal,  reversible ;  Solo  and  Echo  to 
Great,  reversible;  Sforzando  Pedal. 

LIVEEPOOL  CATHEDKAL,  ENGLAND. 

The  firm  of  Henry  Willis  &  Sons  was  established  in  1845  by 
the  late  "Father"  Willis;  who  took  his  two  sons,  Vincent  Willis 
and  Henry  Willis,  into  partnership  with  him  in  1878.  The 
majority  of  the  patents  and  improvements  produced  by  the  firm 
were  solely  the  work  of  "Father"  Willis,  although  his  son  Vin- 
cent was  associated  with  him  in  certain  of  the  later  patents. 
Vincent  Willis  left  the  firm  in  1894,  six  years  previous  to  the 
death  of  "Father"  Willis,  which  occurred  in  February,  1900, 
and  the  business  has  since  been  carried  on  by  his  son,  Mr.  Henry 
Willis,  with  whom  is  associated  Mr.  Henry  Willis,  Jr.,  the  grand- 
son of  the  founder. 

The  famous  traditions  of  the  firm  in  the  field  of  reed-voicing 
and  flue  tone  have  been  maintained  by  the  present  partners,  who 
are  both  experienced  voicers;  and  in  general  up-to-date  mechan- 
ical details  the  firm  is  in  the  forefront  of  the  English  organ- 
the  contract  for  the  magnificent  divided  organ  which  they  have 
industry;  as  is  evidenced  by  their  recently  obtaining 


188 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


now  under  construction  (1913)  for  the  enormous  New  Cathedral 
of  Liverpool,  the  specification  of  which  is  here  appended. 

There  are  five  manuals,  of  61  notes,  CO  to  c3,  and  a  radiating 
and  concave  pedal  board  of  32  notes,  CCC  to  g.  There  are 
no  extensions  or  duplications.  With  the  exception  of  the  Celestes, 
which  go  down  to  FF  only,  every  stop  is  complete,  of  full  com- 
pass. There  are  167  speaking  stops  and  48  couplers,  making 
a  total  of  215  draw  stop  knobs. 

PEDAL  ORGAN   (33  STOPS). 


FEET. 

FEET. 

Dble.  Open  Diapason,  wood      32 

*Violoncello,  metal 

8 

Dble.  Open  Diapason,  metal       32 

Flute,  metal 

8 

Contra  Violone,  metal                32 

*Quintadena,  metal 

8 

Double  Quint,  wood                    21  % 

Twelfth,  metal 

5% 

Open  Diapason  No.  1,  wood      16 

Fifteenth,  metal 

4 

Open  Diapason  No.  2,  wood      16 

Mixture,  17th,  19th, 

22d 

Open  Diapason  No.  3,  wood      16 

Fourniture,  19,  b21, 

22,  26,  29 

Open  Diapason,  metal                 16 

Contra  Trombone 

32 

Contra  Basso,  metal                    16 

*Contra  Ophicleide 

32 

*Geigen,  metal                             16 

Trombone 

16 

Dolce,  metal                                  16 

Bombardon 

16 

*  Violone,  metal                             16 

*  Ophicleide 

16 

Bourdon,  wood                              16 

*Fagotto 

16 

*Quintaton,  metal                       16 

Octave  Trombone 

8 

Quint,  wood                                 10% 

*Octave  Bassoon 

8 

Octave,  wood                                 8 

Clarion 

4 

Principal,  metal                              8 

*  Stops  marked  *  are  in  separate 

Swell  Box. 

Wind  pressures:   6,  7,  10,  15,  and  25  inches. 

CHOIE  ORGAN  (23  STOPS). 


FEET. 

Contra  Dulciana  16 

*Contra  Gamba  16 

Open  Diapason  8 

*  Violin  Diapason  8 

Rohr  Flute  8 

*Claribel  Flute  8 

Dulciana 

*Gamba  8 

*Unda  Maris    (FF)  8 

Flute  Ouverte  4 

*Suabe  Flute  4 

Dulcet            .  4 

*Stops  marked  *   in  separate  Swell  Box. 
Wind  pressures :  4  inches ;  Trumpet  and  Clarion,  7  inches. 


FEET, 

*Gambette  4 

Dulciana  2 

*Flageolet  2 

*Dulciana  Mixture,  10,  12,  17, 

19,  22 

*Bass  Clarinet  16 

*Baryton,  dble.  vox  humana  16 
*Corno  di  Bassetto  8 

*Cor  Anglais  8 

*Vox  Humana  8 

*Trumpet   (orchestral)  8 

*  Clarion  4 


How  We  Stand  To-day 


189 


GREAT  ORGAN  (28  STOPS,  1  COUPLER). 


FEET. 

FEET. 

Double  Open  Diapason 

1<3 

Octave  Diapason 

4 

Contra  Tibia 

10 

Principal 

4 

Bourdon 

16 

Flute  Couverte 

4 

Double  Quint 

10% 

Flute  Harmonique 

4 

Open  Diapason,  No.  1 

8 

Twelfth 

2% 

Open,  No.  2 

8 

Fifteenth 

2 

Open,  No.  3 

8 

Piccolo  Harmonique 

2 

Open,  No.  4 

8 

Mixture,  10,  12,  17,  19,  22 

Open,  No.  5 

8 

Sesquialtera,  19,  b21,  22,  26,  29 

Open,  No.  6 

8 

Double  Trumpet 

16 

Tibia  Major 

8 

Trumpet 

8 

Tibia  Minor 

8 

Trompette  Harmonique 

8 

Stopped  Diapason 

8 

Clarion 

4 

Doppel  Flote 

8 

Solo  Trombas  on  Great 

Quint 

5% 

(By  Coupler) 

Wind  pressures  :  5,  10,  and  15  inches. 

SWELL 

ORGAN 

(31   STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

Contra  Geigen 

16 

Lieblich  Flote 

4 

Contra  Salicional 

16 

Doublette 

2 

Lieblich  Bordun 

16 

Lieblich  Piccolo 

2 

Open  Diapason,  No.  1 

8 

Lieblich  Mixture,  17,  19,  22 

Open  Diapason,  No.  2 

8 

Full  Mixture,  12,  17,  19,  b21,  22 

Geigen 

8  . 

Double  Trumpet 

16 

Tibia 

8 

Wald  Horn 

16 

Flauto  Traverse 

8 

Contra  Hautboy 

16 

Wald  Flote 

8 

Trumpet 

8 

Lieblich  Gedackt 

8 

Trompette  Harmonique 

8 

Echo  Gamba 

8 

Cornopean 

8 

Salicional 

8 

Hautboy 

8 

Vox  Angelica    (FF) 

8 

Krummhorn 

8 

Octave 

4 

Clarion,  No.  1 

4 

Geigen  Principal 

4 

Clarion,  No.  2 

4 

Salicet 

4 

Wind  pressures  :  5,  7,   10, 

and  15 

inches. 

SOLO 

ORGAN 

(23  STOPS). 

FEET. 

FEET. 

*Contra  Hohl  Flote 

16 

Concert  Flute 

4 

Contra  Viole 

16 

Octave  Viole 

4 

*Hohl  Flote 

8 

Piccolo  Harmonique 

2 

Flute  Harmonique 

8 

Violette 

2 

Viol  de  Gambe 

8 

Cornet  de  Violes,  10,  12,  15 

Viol  d'Orchestre 

8 

Cor  Anglais 

16 

Viole  Celeste   (FF) 

8 

Clarinet  (orchestral) 

8 

*O'ctave  Hohl  Flote 

4 

Bassoon   (  orchestral  ) 

8 

190 


The  Recent  Revolution  in  Organ  Building 


SOLO  ORGAN — Continued. 


Tromba  Real 
Tromba  Clarion 
*Diapason  Stentor 


FEET. 

French  Horn    (orchestral)         8 
Oboe    (orchestral)  8 

Contra  Tromba  16 

Tromba  8 

All  Stops  in  a  Swell  Box  except  Stops  marked  *. 

Wind  pressures :  7,  and  20  inches. 

CLAVIER  DES  BOMBARDES   (TUBA  ORGAN)    (G  STOPS). 

FEET.  FEET. 

Contra  Tuba  16          Octave  Bombardon  4 

Bombardon  8          Tuba  Clarion  4 

Tuba  Mirabilis  8          Tuba  Magna    «  8 

Wind  pressures :  30  inches ;  Tuba  Magna,  50  inches. 

The  Stops  of  this  department  will  be  played  from  the  fifth  Keyboard, 
the  action  being  controlled  by  Draw-stop  Knob  marked  "Tuba  On." 

ECHO  ORGAN  ( 19  MANUAL  AND  4  PEDAL  STOPS  ) . 
ECHO  PEDAL. 


Salicional 
Echo  Bass 


FEET. 

16 
16 


Fugara 
Dulzian 


(reed) 


Quintaton 

Echo  Diapason 

Cor  de  Nuit 

Carillon   (gongs) 

Flauto  Amabile 

Muted  Viole 

Aeoline  Celeste  (FF) 

Celestina 

Fernflote 

Rohr  Nasat 


ECHO  MANUAL. 


FEET. 

16 

8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
4 
4 


8 
16 


FEET. 

9 


16 

8 
8 
8 
8 
8 
4 


Flautina 

Harmonica  Aetheria    (flute  mix- 
ture), 10,  12,  15 
Chalumeau 
Cor  Harmonique 
Trompette 
Musette 
Voix  Humaine 
Hautbois  d' Amour 
Hautbois  Octaviante 
Wind   pressures :   3M>   and  7   inches. 

Both  Pedal  and  Manual  Stops  in  Swell  Box.  The  Echo  Manual  Stops 
played  from  the  fifth  Keyboard,  the  action  being  controlled  by  Draw- 
stop  Knob  marked  "Echo  On." 

Arranged  in  two  double  columns  on  the  left-hand  or  bass  jamb  are 
48  draw-stop  knobs  for  the  Couplers  and  Tremulants.  The  principal 
Couplers  may  also  be  operated  by  reversible  pistons  and  the  Tremulants 
(3)  by  reversible  pedals.  There  are  also  5  reversible  pedal  pistons  for  the 
Manual  to  Pedal  Couplers.  In  addition  to  the  usual  Inter-manual 
Couplers  there  are  on  the  Choir,  Swell,  Solo,  and  Echo  organs  Sub  and 
Super  and  Unison  (off)  Couplers,  each  on  its  own  Manual. 

A  novelty  is  a  coupler  labeled  Solo  Tenor  to  Pedal.     By  its  use  the 


How  We  Stand  To-day  191 

upper  20  notes  of  the  pedal-board  are  available  for  a  tenor  solo  by  the 
right  foot,  at  the  same  time  the  Pedal  tones  are  cut  off  from  these  notes 
and  the  remainder  of  the  pedal-board  is  available  for  use  by  the  left 
foot  as  a  bass. 

The  stop  control  is  effected  in  the  first  place  by  9  Adjustable  Com- 
bination Pedals  to  the  Pedal  Organ.  Then  there  are  9  Adjustable  Com- 
bination Pistons  to  the  Choir,  Great,  Swell,  Solo  and  Echo  organs  and 
5  to  the  Tuba  organ.  It  is  possible  to  couple  each  set  of  these  Manual 
Pistons  to  the  Pedal  organ  Combination  Pedals,  either  by  draw-stops  or 
by  piston,  thus  moving  pedal  and  manual  stops  synchronously. 

All  these  Combination  Pedals  and  Pistons  move  the  draw-stop  knobs, 
showing  a  valuable  index  of  their  position  to  the  organist. 

There  are  5  Adjustable  Pistons  on  the  treble  key  frame  (and  5  dupli- 
cates on  the  bass  key  frame)  for  special  combinations,  on  Manuals, 
Pedal,  and  Couplers. 

There  are  5  pedals  to  operate  the  various  swell  boxes  of  the  lever  lock- 
ing type — a  locking  movement  allowing  the  performer  to  leave  pedal 
in  any  position.  The  swell  pedal  for  the  Pedal  stops  can  be  coupled 
to  any  of  the  others. 

The  Tremulants  have  attachments  allowing  the  performer  to  increase 
or  decrease  the  rapidity  of  the  vibrato  at  will. 

The  action  throughout  is  electro-pneumatic  and  tubular-pneumatic  (ac- 
cording to  distance  of  pipes  from  keyboard),  excepting  the  Manual  to 
Pedal  Couplers,  which  are  mechanical  to  pull  down  the  manual  keys. 

There  are  seven  separate  blowing  installations  of  electric  motors. 

The  instrument  occupies  two  special  chambers  on  each  side 
of  the  chancel,  and  a  portion  of  the  south  chancel  triforium. 
There  are  four  fronts,  two  facing  the  chancel  and  two  (32  feet) 
facing  the  transepts.  The  console  is  placed  on  the  north  side 
above  the  choir  stalls.  The  organ  is  the  gift  of  Mrs.  James 
Barrow  and  cost  (without  cases)  about  $90,000.  The  specifica- 
tion was  drawn  up  by  Mr.  W.  J.  Eidley,  nephew  of  Mrs.  Bar- 
row, with  the  full  approval  of  her  committee,  Mr.  Charles  Col- 
lins, Mr.  E.  Townsend  Driffield,  the  Cathedral  organist,  Mr.  F. 
H.  Burstall,  P.  K.  C.  0.,  and  Henry  Willis  &  Sons. 

It  is  claimed  that  this  organ  is  now  "the  largest  in  the  world."  We 
give  the  dimensions  of  some  notable  instruments  for  the  sake  of  com- 
parison : 

Paris,  St.  Sulpice,  118  stops;  London,  Albert  Hall,  124;  Sydney  Town 
Hall,  144;  St.  Louis  Exposition,  167;  Hamburg,  St.  Michael's,  163,  and 
Liverpool  Cathedral,  215. 


James  Ingall  Wedgwood,  in  writing  his  excellent  "Diction- 
ary of  Organ  Stops,"  felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  offer  an 
apology,  or  rather,  justification  for  introducing  the  name  of 
Hope-Jones  so  frequently. 

The  author  of  this  present  volume  feels  the  same  embarrass- 
ment. He,  however,  does  not  see  how  it  would  be  possible  for 
him,  or  for  any  future  writer,  who  values  truth,  to  avoid  reitera- 
tion of  this  man's  name  and  work  when  writing  about  the  modern 
organ. 

The  author's  thanks  are  due  to  the  Austin  Organ  Company, 
the  Bennett  Organ  Company,  Dr.  W.  C.  Carl,  the  Estey  Organ 
Company,  the  Hook  &  Hastings  Company,  the  Hope-Jones  Organ 
Company,  the  Hutchings  Organ  Company,  Mr.  M.  P.  Moller, 
Messrs.  J.  H.  &  S.  C.  Odell,  and  the  E.  M.  Skinner  Company, 
of  the  United  States;  to  Messrs.  Casavant  Freres,  of  Canada; 
to  Messrs.  J.  H.  Compton,  W.  Hill  &  Son,  Dr.  J.  W.  Hinton, 
Alfred  Kirkland,  John  Moncrieff  Miller,  and  Henry  Willis  & 
Sons,  of  England ;  to  Dr.  Gabriel  Bedart,  of  Lille,  and  M.  Charles 
Mutin,  of  Paris,  France,  for  valuable  data,  photographs  and 
drawings,  kindly  furnished  for  this  book. 


